


LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
PRINCETON. N. J. 


PRESENTED BY 


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Che General Epistles 


AN EXPOSITION 


BY 
CHARLES R. ERDMAN 


Professor of Practical Theology 
Princeton Theological Seminary 
Princeton, New Jersey 
Author of ‘‘The Gospel of John, an Exposition,” 
**Coming to the Communion,” 


‘Sunday Afternoons with Railroad Men,”’ 
*‘The Gospel of Mark, an Exposition,”’ and so forth 





PHILADELPHIA 
THE WESTMINSTER PRESS 
1925 


Copyright, 1918 
“1 by 
F. M. BRASELMAN 


The Bible text printed in boldface is taken from the American Standard Edition of the 
Revised Bible, copyright, 1901, by Thomas Nelson & Sons, and is used by permission. 


TO 
MY MOTHER 


Fla Mi 
i iy 


Ly 
+ 


sea 
ware 





CONTENTS 


PAGE 
BLEW OL Ge ere ae eS son lok hak wie sae es uy | 
PL OU LICTIOU Men steve oerer ie, rats sate Se ars ieee ea wcacee 9 
BE PIStles Ons AINCS peje Serban ae datettl le iee its ity 
Mites birst Mnistic.of Peters ks enviar o cictartoties cls 51 
The Second Epistle of Peter............ te sy ey 87 
Ses eies teristic. Ols) Oil. meets rcttialete pete sco 110 
Sene Secondee piste. Gln] Olitidic s.tscines e ecde he eine 153 
snes Lhirdst piste: olf] Oi wari ae soins tecersaeets 2 162 


BE @a Pur itsLlecOtw MCG tate ciclc lots b est al fete, atakel cte(ele's  evetart ase 173 





FOREWORD 


Here are strengthening words for days of storm and 
testing, and cheering words for nights dark and starless, 
and guiding words for times of mental perplexity and of 
moral peril. They come to us across distant centuries, 
but they meet precisely our modern needs. They are 
weighted with divine mysteries, but they chiefly concern 
human duties. They were addressed to members of a 
heavenly brotherhood, but they deal with the practical, 
earthly problems of employers and servants, husbands 
and wives, teachers and taught, rich and poor, of all 
who need encouragement to press on through sorrow to 
joy, through temptation and failure to strength and vic- 
tory, through doubts and fears to assured faith and cloud- 
less hope. They were written by men who had been 
companions of Christ, but they are his present messengers 
for all who yield to his Spirit and seek to do his will. 


we 





INTRODUCTION 


The art of letter-writing has been lost; at least it is sel- 
dom displayed. The haste of modern life, the many 
means of communication, the ease of travel and transpor- 
tation, the multitude of books and papers, these and other 
causes have increased vastly the volume of correspondence, 
but have made its character more fugitive and less studied 
and serious. It cannot be denied, however, that this 
form of literature is peculiarly instinct with human 
interest and rich in biographic and historical material. 

Among all the letters of the world, those written in the 
first century by the followers of Christ, and preserved for 
us in the New Testament, are regarded as supreme. By 
way of eminence they are called epistles. This word, of 
course, might be applied to any series of letters; yet 
fortunately its use is being restricted to these which are of 
such surpassing dignity and value and which have exercised 
such an incomparable influence upon the history of the 
race. 

Of these epistles those which bear the names of James, 
Peter, John, and Jude, have been placed in a group by 
themselves and for many centuries have been known as the 
catholic or “‘General Epistles.’’ The exact meaning of the 
title has been a matter of some uncertainty. It may 
refer to their authorship, their contents, or their destina- 
tion. The authorship of all other New Testament 
epistles has popularly been assigned to Paul, but in this 
group of General Epistles we find the products of a number 
of different writers. Of these, James and Jude were own 
brothers of Jesus and the other two, Peter and John, were 
his most prominent apostles. It is of interest to note that 
we find here the writings of two men who had shared the 
experiences of the home in Nazareth and of two other men, 
who had been most intimate with Christ in the days of his 
earthly ministry and who after his ascension were most 
closely united in the work of establishing his Church, 

; 9 


10 INTRODUCTION : 

While it is not highly probable that the title of these 
epistles is due to their content, it is true that the themes 
discussed are of the most general character. They con- 
tain references to every cardinal doctrine of Christianity, 
and touch every phase of Christian experience. It is 
well to note, however, that each one of these writers lays 
special stress upon some one characteristic and distin- 
guishing truth. James is the apostle of works, Peter 
gives messages of hope, John is an exponent of love, and 
Jude emphasizes the need of a pure faith. 

It is most of all likely that the title is due to the general 
character of the readers for whom these epistles were de- 
signed. Paul wrote his letters to specific individuals or 
churches or groups of churches; these letters were ad- 
dressed to the universal Church or to Christian believers — 
scattered over wide areas of the Roman Empire. This is 
not strictly true of them all. For example, the Second 
and Third Epistles of John seem to be addressed to in- 
dividuals. However, it is sufficiently accurate to suggest 
this general character as the origin of the familiar title 
and to allow us to make the immediate application that 
here are messages for us all, designed for the help and 
guidance of Christians in every place and time. 

The historic references in these epistles lead us back to 
the earthly ministry of Christ and to the recorded acts 
of his apostles. The prophetic utterances point us for- 
ward to his return, not with such fullness as to satisfy our 
curiosity, but with such certainty as to inspire hope. 
One of their chief values lies in their accurate pictures of 
the Apostolic Church, covering the whole course of its 
career from the early ministry of James to the late years 
of the aged John. ‘The passages of difficult interpretation 
are sufficiently numerous to inspire humility and caution; 
but the main teachings are plain and of immediate applica- 
tion to the life and problems of the modern Church. They 
invite careful and repeated reading and suggest the 
possibility of continual growth ‘‘in the grace and knowledge 
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” 


THE EPISTLE OF 
JAMES 


Those were peculiar privileges which the writer of this 
epistle enjoyed during the long years of companionship 
with Jesus, his brother, in the home of Mary at Nazareth; 
together they read the book of nature in lovely Galilee, 
together they were taught the Book of God by their mother 
and in the village school. These influences were never 
lost. It is true that, like his brothers, James did not 
understand the startling claims which Jesus made as he 
began his public ministry, he was not convinced by the 
miracles or the equally wonderful messages of our Lord; 
he illustrates the stupidity, possibly the subsequent poign- 
ant regret, of those who fail to value the familiar and the 
near, and who give no honor to a prophet “in his own 
house.’”’ Nevertheless he never lost the impression made 
upon him by the words and works of Christ; and when, 
in the light of the resurrection, the light which alone 
brings conviction to most of us to-day, he saw the true 
nature of his brother according to the flesh, he was ready 
to worship and serve him as his divine Lord and Master. 
Then those early influences bore their abundant fruit. 
No one among the followers of Christ was better known, 
none more respected, none more honored. James was 
conceded the place of leadership, he was recognized as the 
head of the Church. So, too, as he composed his epistle 
he used, more nearly than any other writer, the very words 
of Jesus, and he reproduced more perfectly the spirit of 
those Scriptures which as a boy he had studied with Jesus. 

It is evident from the letter that those whom James ad- 
dresses were Jews. Hecalls them ‘‘the twelve tribes which 
are of the Dispersion,’ and he has in mind his fellow 
countrymen who were scattered in various parts of the 
Roman world. Evidently they have accepted Jesus as the 
Messiah, as ‘‘the Lord of glory,’ and James is writing 
from Jerusalem to urge them to live in accordance with 
their Christian profession. Most of them seem to be 

Lig 


iow THE EPISTLE OF JAMES 


poor, and to be suffering from the selfishness and 
oppression of the Jews among whom they are living. 
They are persecuted as apostates, dragged before the 
judgment seats, imprisoned, deprived of their goods, and 
tempted to renounce their faith. Nor are they them- 
selves free from fault. They seek the friendship of the 
world, are obsequious to the rich, are at strife among 
themselves, are lacking in Christian love. The purpose 
of the epistle, therefore, is eminently practical. James 
seeks to correct their errors and to admonish them for 
their failures. He does not attempt to teach Christian 
doctrine, but to stimulate Christian life. He assumes 
the great truths of the faith and upon theseas a founda- 
tion urges the readers to build the necessary superstruc- 
ture of consistent works. | 

The theme of the epistle might be stated as ‘Christian 
Wisdom,” by which is meant, not speculative knowledge 
or revealed truth, but practical knowledge, truth applied 
to life, creed resulting in character. It shows how Chris- 
tians should and may live in days of discouragement and 
persecution; it suggests the temptations by which they 
ever are beset. It guides their actions when trials abound, 
when even in churches may be found ‘‘respect of persons,”’ 
dead orthodoxy, tongues of deceit, evil speaking, love of 
the world, forgetfulness of God, self-indulgence, and greed. 
It is thus an epistle of practical wisdom for perilous 
times. 

Most striking of all is the fact that its fundamental 
note voices the universal cry of the present age. This 
note is the demand for reality in religion; it rebukes all 
pretense and self-deception, all sham and hypocrisy; 
it insists that faith shall be tested by works, that char- 
acter shall correspond to profession. It is this under- 
lying thought which unites the various sections of the 
epistle and brings into vital relation its diverse themes. 
These sections may be summarized as follows: 


1. Trials and Temptations. James 1 : 1-18. 
2. Hearing and Doing. Ch. 1 : 19-27. 

3. Respect of Persons. Ch. 2 : 1-13. 

4, Faith and Works. Ch. 2 : 14-26. 


THE EPISTLE OF JAMES 13 


. Control of the Tongue. Ch. 3 : 1-12. 

. False and True Wisdom. Ch. 3 : 13-18. 

- Worldly Lusts. Ch. 4 : 1-10. 

. Censoriousness. Ch. 4:11, 12. 

. Self-Confidence. Ch. 4 : 13-17. 

. The Doom of the Oppressor. Ch. 5 : 1-6. 
. Patience in Suffering. Ch. 5: 7-11. 
seProlanityae.enso 12, 

eebIAVer [Olatne oicKka) CHS 13-13; 

. Saving Souls. Ch. 5 : 19, 20. 





James 1:1-18 TRIALS AND TEMPTATIONS 15 


1. TRIALS AND TEMPTATIONS. JAMES 1 : 1-18 


1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Chrisi 
to the twelve tribes which are of the Dispersion, greeting. 

2 Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold 
temptations; 3 knowing that the proving of your faith 
worketh patience. 4 And let patience have ifs perfect work, 
that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing. 

5 But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, 
who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be 
given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting: 
for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by 
the wind and tossed. 7 For let not that man think that 
he shall receive anything of the Lord; 8 a doubleminded 
man, unstable in all his ways. 

9 But let the brother of low degree glory in his high estate: 
10 and the rich, in that he is made low: because as the 
flower of the grass he shall pass away. 11 For the sun 
ariseth with the scorching wind, and withereth the grass; 
and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion 
of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in 
his goings. 

12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for 
when he hath been approved, he shall receive the crown 
of life, which the Lord promised to them that love him. 
13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; 
for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempteth 
no man: 14 but each man is tempted, when he is drawn 
away by his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then the lust, when 
it hath conceived, beareth sin: and the sin, when it is full- 
grown, bringeth forth death. 16 Be not deceived, my be- 
loved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift 
is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with 
whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by 
turning. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word 
of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. 


In his brief line of greeting James pauses for no long 
description of himself or of his readers, merely indicating 
that as a “‘servant of God” he worships and obeys Jesus 
Christ as divine Lord and Master, and that those to whom 


yw? 


16 EPISTLE OF JAMES James 1: 1-18 


he writes are Jews of the great national dispersion. He 
at once turns to the first great need of the readers, both in 
his day and ours, as he gives comfort in trial and warning 
in temptation. It is true that both experiences are 
denoted by the same word, yet the testing of which he 
speaks first is that of outward circumstances, and that 
which he next considers is due to inward desire. 

He startles us by the strange paradox with which he 
begins, as he bids us ‘‘count it all joy’ when we are 
suddenly overwhelmed by misfortunes of every possible 
kind. He does not mean that we are to court disaster or 
to seek for trouble or to deny the reality of pain and sor- 
row, but we are to regard all these adversities as tests of 
faith and as means of moral and spiritual growth. Weare 
to rejoice, not because distresses come, but in view of their 
_ possible results. They may produce “‘patience,”’ which is 
not mere passive submission, but steadfast endurance 
and triumphant trust. We are urged therefore to allow 
“patience” to do its full work in producing a maturity of 
character in which every virtue is fully developed and_ no 
grace is lacking. Such a blessed issue of trials is possible 
only when we look upon them in the right light; it 
requires ‘“‘wisdom”’ to see life steadily and ‘‘see it whole” 
and to view its darker scenes in their right perspective. 
Trials may embitter, they may dwarf, they may work 
moral disaster. Therefore we must ask God for needed 
grace, for true ‘‘wisdom.’”’ He gives to all liberally; he 
never rebukes us for asking too much. We must, however, 
look to him in absolute confidence. If our minds are 
allowed to dwell only on our distress, or to turn restlessly 
back and forth from his changeless love to our pitiful 
selves, the state of the soul is like a wave of the sea, 
“driven by the wind and tossed’”’; surely then no divine 
grace can be received, no moral progress can be made. 

Two familiar examples of testing are now given, the 
trials of poverty and the temptations of wealth. Either 
may result in moral injury, even in spiritual disaster; 
but if met with the ‘‘wisdom”’ which God gives, either may 
issue in the perfecting of character. It is of course much 
easier to rejoice when wealth comes than when it goes; 


James 1:1-18 TRIALS AND TEMPTATIONS 17 


but joy may be possible in the latter experience when we 
realize that what one is should concern him more than what 
he has, particularly when we remember that wealth passes 
away and a man ceases to be rich quite as swiftly as a 
flower withers under the summer sun. The character, 
however, which issues, from either the test of prosperity 
or the test of adversity abides forever. 

As James, therefore, emphasizes the reward of endur- 
ance, he speaks of “‘the crown of life, which the Lord 
promised to them that love him,” by which he means that 
one whose faith stands the test, one who views each event 
of life in thelight of the wisdom which God gives, receives as 
a reward, as an inevitable result, life in ever fuller, larger 
degree, life more abundant, life for time and for eternity. 

As the writer declares this blessedness of ‘‘the man that 
endureth temptation,” he has in mind both the tests of 
outward circumstances and also of inclinations to sin. Of 
the latter he now speaksin more detail. Heassures us that 
as trials may lead into truer life, any harm which results 
from them must be due to the evil within us. That which 
converts a trial into a temptation is solely the sinful lust 
that comes from our own hearts. ‘‘Let no man say when 
he is tempted, I am tempted of God.’’ We may not use 
those words, but we are all inclined to excuse our wrong- 
doing on the ground of some circumstance or inheritance 
which is logically related to the providence of God, which 
therefore comes from God. Evil, however, cannot tempt 
God, it can make no appeal to him, it cannot have its 
source in him; therefore ‘‘he himself tempteth no man.’’ 
Evil desire, which we should resist, which by the grace of 
God we may resist, is like a temptress by whom one is 
coaxed and cajoled and enticed; and when evil desire is 
allowed to lodge in the heart it soon controls the will. 
The result is sin, and the issue of sin is nothing less hideous 
than death. The loss of beauty and purity and holiness 
and happiness, the loss of fellowship with goodness and 
God, the loss of all that is worthy the name of life, comes 
from our own evil selves. 

James warns us against false conceptions of ourselves 
or of God: ‘‘Be not deceived, my beloved hrethren.’’ So 


18 EPISTLE OF JAMES James 1: 1-18 © 


far from being the author of evil, God is the Giver of every 
good gift, and all his gifts are good. He is like the sun; 
other heavenly bodies like the moon or stars may wax or 
wane, but from “the Father of lights’ streams forth 
changeless, unmingled love. Surely we can trust him in 
every hour of trial, in every time of temptation. His 
greatest gift is the new life which he has imparted to us 
through the truth revealed in Christ. As the “‘firstfruits”’ 
were dedicated to God and gave promise of the coming 
harvest, so we Christians are designed to be the special 
possession of God and the pledge and earnest of a redeemed 
race. 


James 1:19-27 HEARING AND DOING 19 


2. HEARING AND Doinc. Ch. 1 : 19-27 


19 Ye know this, my beloved brethren. But let every 
man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20 for 
the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. 21 
Wherefore putting away all filthiness and overflowing of 
wickedness, receive with meekness the implanted word, 
which is able to save your souls. 22 But be ye doers of the 
word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves. 
23 For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he 
is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror: 
24 for he beholdeth himself, and goeth away, and straightway 
forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25 But he that 
looketh into the peifect law, the Jaw of liberty, and so con- 
tinueth, being not a hearer that forgetteth but a doer that 
worketh, this man shall be blessed in his doing. 26 If any 
man thinketh himself to be religious, while he bridleth not 
his tongue but deceiveth his heart, this man’s religion is 
vain. 27 Pure religion and undefiled before our God and 
Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their 
affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. 


James has been speaking of the word of God as the 
instrument whereby a new life is imparted to the believer. 
He intimates that his readers are familiar with this fact, 
and with the gracious purpose of God toward all men: 
“Ye know this, my beloved brethren.’”” He deems it 
necessary, however, to give certain instructions relative 
to the use which should be made of this word of God, 
this “word of truth,” this gospel message. In fact he 
reaches the central thought of his epistle as he insists 
that truth must be received into the heart and expressed 
in the life. There are those who seem to think that ‘‘the 
word” is intended as an object about which we are to talk 
or to fight. Some men find little else in the Bible than 
subjects for debate. On the contrary, James insists that 
the message concerning Christ must be heard with eager- 
ness and carefully obeyed. ‘‘Let every man be swift to 
hear,’’ let him improve every opportunity for learning more 


20 EPISTLE OF JAMES James 1: 19-27 


truth, let him listen again and again to the divine message, © 
let him be ready to receive light from any source. Let 
him be ‘‘slow to speak,’’ humbly taking the place of a 
learner, or if it becomes his duty to testify or to teach, let 
him do so with modesty and reverence, avoiding all care- 
lessness and flippancy and self-confidence. Let him also 
be “slow to wrath.’’ Unhappily religious discussions 
are too often attended with heat and. anger. Too many 
public teachers seem to feel that the bitterness with which 
they assail their opponents will attest their zeal and 
devotion. James reminds such that ‘‘the wrath of man’”’ 
cannot produce ‘‘the righteousness’ which God requires 
and which he aims to produce in the conduct of Christians. 
True hearers will put away all evil and malicious thoughts, 
and by a spirit of meekness will prepare the soul, as good 
soil, for the reception of ‘‘the word,’”’ which is implanted 
like good seed and springs up in a harvest of virtue and 
holiness and life. 

That this blessed issue may result, the believer must 
receive the truth not only with meekness but also with 
prompt and resolute obedience: ‘‘But be ye doers of the 
word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves.” 
This delusion is common in the case of those who suppose 
themselves to be religious because they are familiar with 
religious truths and their discussion. One who merely 
listens, or whose knowledge results in no action, is likened 
by James toa man who givesa hasty glance intoa mirror 
and then turns away forgetful of what he has seen and 
with no effort toward improving his appearance. Whata 
magic mirror the Word of God provides! It shows a man 
exactly what he is, with all his faults and failures and 
infirmities; and yet, as he gazes upon that reflection, he 
beholds another image, that of the ideal Man, and he sees 
what he himself should be. Most marvelous of all, as he 
looks steadfastly upon the glorious perfection of his Lord, 
he finds himself free from the bondage of habit and self 
and sin, and becoming ‘‘transformed into the same image 
from glory to glory.’’ Surely, one who makes such a use 
of the word of truth, one who gazes into it and makes its 
revelations the law of his life, cannot fail to find the bless- 


> 


James 1: 19-27 HEARING AND DOING 21 


ing of God on all his deeds; he is ‘‘not a hearer that for- 
getteth but a doer that worketh.” 

James has suggested that a man may deceive himself as 
to his religious state by his enjoyment of religious discus- 
sions, or by his fluency of speech on religious themes, or 
by the warmth of his passion in religious disputes; he now 
adds that another cause of self-deception may be found in 
the care with which one performs religious rites and cere- 
monies. One may be most scrupulous in observing all 
the prescribed forms of religion, he may give alms and pray 
and fast, as the Pharisees did; he may attend church and 
sing hymns and observe sacraments; but his religion 
may still be an empty and vain delusion. James suggests 
three tests of religion, or to follow his words more exactly, 
he prescribes three religious exercises which cannot fail 
to please God. 

The first of these is self-control. The example which he 
gives is that of ability to bridle the tongue. In contrast 
with those members of the Church who prided themselves 
upon their skill in debate and their ability to distress their 
opponents, he suggests that a truer test of religion may be 
found in the ability to keep silence, particularly under 
irritating and annoying circumstances. ‘Holding the 
tongue”’ is only one of many forms of self-discipline, but, 
as James suggests ina later chapter, it is a supreme test, 
and, “if any stumbleth not in word, the same is a perfect 
man, able to bridle the whole body.”’ 

The second exercise of religion which James proposes is 
charity. As the Old Testament frequently intimates, 
those usually most in need of sympathy and aid are 
orphans and widows. But they are not the only persons 
who make their appeal to our pity; James mentions them 
simply as types or examples; but he declares that care for 
them constitutes a true religious ceremony, it is part of a 
real ritual: ‘‘Pure religion and undefiled before our God 
and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their 
affliction.” 

The third expression of religion mentioned by James is 
purity: ‘‘To keep oneself unspotted from the world.” 
To be religious, in this true sense, is by no means easy. 


22 EPISTLE OF JAMES James 1: 19-27 


The world about us is full of evil; its maxims, its practices, 
its ideals, are too commonly opposed to the will of God. 
By obedience to them the pure soul is sullied and stained 
by sin. To walk “in white garments,’’ to have clean 
hands and clean hearts, this is to be religious, this is to 
please God. 


James 2: 1-13 RESPECT OF PERSONS 23 


3. ReEsPEcT OF PERSONS. Ch. 2 : 1-13 


1 My brethren, hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. 2 For if there come 
into your synagogue a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, 
and there come in also a poor man in vile clothing; 3 and ye 
have regard to him that weareth the fine clothing, and say, 
Sit thou here in a good place; and ye say to the poor man, 
Stand thou there, or sit under my footstool; 4 do ye not 
make distinctions among yourselves, and become judges 
with evil thoughts? 5 Hearken, my beloved brethren; did 
not God choose them that are poor as to the world to be rich 
in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to them 
that love him? 6 But ye have dishonored the poor man. 
Do not the rich oppress you, and themselves drag you before 
the judgment-seats? 7 Do not they blaspheme the honor- 
able name by which ye are called? 8 Howbeit if ye fulfil the 
royal law, according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy 
neighbor as thyself, ye do well: 9 but if ye have respect of 
persons, ye commit sin, being convicted by the law as trans- 
gressors. 10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and 
yet stumble in one point, he is become guilty of all. 11 For 
he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. 
Now if thou dost not commit adultery, but killest, thou art 
become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak ye, and so do, 
as men that are to be judged by a law of liberty. 13 For 
judgment is without mercy to him that hath showed no 
mercy: mercy glorieth against judgment. 


In his first chapter James has spoken of the temptations 
by which we are assailed; here he deals with one which is 
most common, namely, that of partiality, of making unfair 
distinctions between persons. He has also referred to 
“the word of truth” by which we should direct our lives; 
he here mentions a fault which the law of Christ would 
forbid. Possibly the connection is even more direct. 
The previous verses have dealt with forms of religious 
service; here the writer may be recalling a scene which he 
had recently witnessed in the place of worship. The 
incident, whether real or imaginary, was one in which honor 
was shown to a rich man and disrespect to a man who was 


a EPISTLE OF JAMES James 2: 1-13 


poor; it is here mentioned to illustrate the fault which 
James seeks to correct, namely, ‘‘respect of persons.’ 
The word so translated means ‘“‘judging by appearances,’’ 
and so influenced to unfair treatment of people by con- 
siderations of wealth or class or power or social distinction. 
The folly of such behavior is rebuked by the words the 
writer employs to introduce his theme: ‘‘My brethren.”’ 
We should treat one another as equals in the household of 
God and “hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the 
Lord of glory, with respect of persons.’’ As our faith is in 
Jesus Christ we should follow his example; as we submit 
to him as Lord we should obey his law; as he is ‘‘the Lord 
of glory,” then, by comparison with him, all degrees of 
rank and position among men are insignificant and con- 
temptible. 

Nevertheless the fault of partiality, and of making un- 
just distinctions, is far too common even among Chris- 
tians. Few of us find the least difficulty in imagining the 
picture which James paints: Two strangers present them- 
selves to take part in a religious service; one, by his 
gorgeous clothing and his jewelry, is proclaimed to be rich; 
the other, in wretched rags, is evidently poor; the former 
is cordially welcomed and given a seat of honor, the latter 
is made to stand against the wall or to crouch upon the 
floor. Such conduct and all similar offenses James severely 
rebukes: ‘Do ye not make distinctions among yourselves, 
and become judges with evil thoughts?” 

The fault is condemned as unreasonable. It is really 
absurd. Many poor men are actually rich, and many 
rich men are deserving only of contempt. How foolish 
then to judge a man by outward circumstances or to con- 
demn him because he belongs to a certain class! Poor 
men are often peculiarly rich in faith, and heirs of the 
glorious Kingdom of God; rich men are often opposed to 
God and his cause. The latter in the days of James, were 
notoriously cruel to Christians, oppressing them and 
dragging them to the judgment seats, and blaspheming 
the name of their Lord. 

More serious still the fault is not only unreasonable; 
it is unlawful, it is actually sinful. For all Christians, and 


James 2: 1-13 RESPECT OF PERSONS 25 


in the treatment of all men there is one changeless law: 
it is the law of love. It is called ‘‘the royal law’’ because 
it is superior to all others and because it makes those who 
obey it regal and kingly. It is called the ‘‘law of liberty” 
- for it sets men free from sin and self. If we are controlled 
by this law in our treatment of rich or poor, we are worthy 
of praise; “If ye fulfil the royal law, according to the 
scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do 
well: but if ye have respect of persons, ye commit sin, 
being convicted by the law as transgressors.” 

To emphasize the guilt James adds the difficult words: 
‘For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble 
in one point, he is become guilty of all.’’ He does not 
mean that all sin is equally great, or that it is as serious 
to break one commandment as to break all. Breaking 
one commandment puts the offender in the class of trans- 
’ gressors. It also shows that he is indifferent to law, and 
so to the will of God expressed in all the commandments, 
and that it is but accident or fear or the absence of tempta- 
tion that prevents him from breaking the other command- 
ments. Most of all, it is evident that as love is the sum of 
all the law, acting contrary to love is, in principle, breaking 
“the whole law.” 

We should be careful, then, as to our judgments, and 
guard against all unfair discriminations, all narrow sus- 
picions and class distinctions and race prejudices, for we 
ourselves are to be judged. It is reassuring to know that 
it is to be by “a law of liberty” and of love. Let us 
remember, however, that it is nevertheless by a law of 
justice, and ‘‘judgment is without mercy to him that hath. 
showed no mercy.’”’ So, as we hope to find that ‘‘mercy 
glorieth against judgment,” let love triumph in all our 
estimates and judgments of our fellow men. We shall 
not then be guilty of holding the faith of our Lord Jesus 
Christ ‘“‘with respect of persons.”’ 


26° EPISTLE OF JAMES _, James 2: 14-26 


4. FAITH AND Works. Ch. 2: 14-26 


14 What doth it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath 
faith, but have not works? can that faith save him? 15 Ifa 
brother or sister be naked and in lack of daily food, 16 and 
one of you say unto them, Go in peace, be ye warmed and 
filled; and yet ye give them not the things needful to the 
body; what doth it profit? 17 Even so faith, if it have not 
works, is dead in itself. 18 Yea, a man will say, Thou hast 
faith, and I have works: show me thy faith apart from thy 
works, and I by my works will show thee my faith. 19 Thou 
believest that God is one; thou doest well: the demons also 
believe, and shudder. 20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, 
that faith apart from works is barren? 21 Was not Abraham 
our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his 
son upon the altar? 22 Thou seest that faith wrought with 
his works, and by works was faith made perfect; 23 and 
the scripture was fulfilled which saith, And Abraham be- 
lieved God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness; 
and he was called the friend of God. 24 Ye see that by 
works a man is justified, and not only by faith. 25 And in 
like manner was not also Rahab the harlot justified by works, 
in that she received the messengers, and sent them out 
another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is 
dead, even so faith apart from works is dead. 


It is right to say that James has no part in the popular 
discussion as to whether a man is saved by faith or saved 
by works. His concern is to prove that faith and works 
are inseparable. He never questions that faith is the in- 
strument of salvation, but he insists that if faith is real 
it will manifest itself in works. Faith is trust and devo- 
tion and obedience and love; a ‘‘faith’’ which is mere 
assent to a creed is not worthy the name. A faith which 
does not produce works cannot save, it is ‘‘dead,’’ it is 
“‘barren’’—this is the truth which James seeks to establish 
in this famous section of his epistle. 

He has been warning his readers against the folly of try- 
ing to hold faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and at the same 
time breaking the law of love and showing ‘‘respect of 


James 2: 14-26 FAITH AND WORKS 27 


persons.” He has insisted that this is impossible; real 
faith in Christ will manifest itself in love. He now 
_ proceeds to enlarge upon this vital truth and to insist that 
real faith will always be manifest in conduct which is con- 
sistent with the law and love of Christ. 

James introduces the discussion by the question: 
“What doth it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath 
faith, but have not works? can that faith save him?’’ 
The answer implied is that such faith cannot save; it 
is not true faith. James shows that it is not true by a com- 
parison. He likens such dead faith to lifeless love: ‘‘If 
a brother or sister be naked and in lack of daily food, and 
one of you say unto them, Go in peace, be ye warmed and 
filled; and yet ye give them not the things needful to the 
body; what doth it profit?’’ What, indeed, is the use 
of charity like that? Love which confines itself to empty 
words, to cheap advice, to pious hopes, is not worthy the 
name. ‘‘Even so faith, if it have not works, ‘is dead.”’ 

James further proves his point by an imaginary chal- 
lenge: ‘Show me thy faith apart from thy works.”’ That 
exposes the fallacy. Without works there is no possible 
way of proving that faith exists. Such faith is a phan- 
tom, a dream, a delusion. But, one who truly believes 
can say without pride yet in all confidence, ‘‘I by my works 
will show thee my faith.” 

To show further the vanity of a faith which consists in 
mere intellectual assent to truth, James takes a case in 
point. He turns to some Jew who plumes himself upon 
being orthodox, because he believes in the unity of God, 
and repeats daily the formula of his faith: ‘‘Thou believest 
that God is one; thou doest well; the demons also believe, 
and shudder.’”’ The demons are quite orthodox in their 
beliefs and probably more exact in their knowledge than 
most mortals; but while conscious of their deserved doom 
and of their rebellion against God, their knowledge only 
adds to their distress: they shudder. Thus, James con- 
cludes, ‘‘faith apart from works is barren.” 

On the other hand, real faith necessarily embodies itself 
in action. The faith of a true believer will be indicated 
and demonstrated by works. To establish this positive 


28 EPISTLE OF JAMES James 2: 14-26 


side of his argument James employs two examples. The 
first is naturally that of Abraham, ‘‘the father of the faith- 
ful.” When he was subjected to the supreme test, when 
he was asked to offer up Isaac his son upon the altar, his 
faith was found to be genuine; it was no mere assent toa 
creed, it was a faith that “‘wrought with his works, and by 
works was faith made perfect.’”’ Abraham was shown to 
have a supreme confidence in God, a matchless submission 
to his will; he really ‘believed God, and it was reckoned 
unto him for righteousness; and he was called the friend 
of God.”’ So it is by works that a man is shown to be a 
true believer, James declares, and not by a mere profession 
of faith. 

The second illustration is that of Rahab. She also was 
shown by her works to be sincere in her faith. At the risk 
of her life she hid the spies who entered Jericho, and “‘sent 
them out another way.” It is true that her faith was not 
perfect; she was guilty of falsehood and deception; yet 
her faith was remarkable, and it was genuine. A poor, 
sinful woman of Canaan, with little opportunity for 
knowledge, she had become convinced that the God of 
Israel was the living and true God, and as opportunity 
offered of serving him, she imperiled her life to defend his 
messengers. The result was that she was saved; she was 
honored as a heroine in the Hebrew annals;@she became 
the ancestress of Jesus Christ. Such is the power of a 
living faith. On the other hand: “‘As the body apart from 
the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.”’ 

The days of dead orthodoxy are not gone; there are 
many persons whose faith consists in the recital of creeds 
and in the defense of dogmas, many who need to be re- 
minded that ‘faith apart from works is dead’; yet 
again, on the other hand, it is time for men to cease propos- 
ing the false alternatives of ‘‘creed or character,” ‘‘belief 
or conduct,” ‘‘doctrine or duty”; these supposed alterna- 
tives are inseparable as causes and effects, as roots and 
fruit. When creeds are living, when belief is sincere, 
when doctrine is truly accepted, then character and right 
conduct and the performance of duty are sure to result. 
A living faith does save. 


James 3:1-12 CONTROL OF THE TONGUE 29 


53 CONTROL OF THE VLLONGUE: Ch:'3°:: 1-12 


1 Be not many of you teachers, my brethren, knowing 
that we shall receive heavier judgment. 2 For in many 
things we all stumble. If any stumbleth not in word, the 
same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body ‘also. 
3 Now if we put the horses’ bridles into their mouths that 
they may obey us, we turn about their whole body also. 4 
Behold, the ships also, though they are so great and are 
driven by rough winds, are yet turned about by a very small 
rudder, whither the impulse of the steersman willeth. 5 So 
the tongue also is a little member, and boasteth great things. 
Behold, how much wood is kindled by how small a fire! 
6 And the tongue is a fire: the world of iniquity among our 
members is the tongue, which defileth the whole body, 
and setteth on fire the wheel of nature, and is set on fire by 
hell. 7 For every kind of beasts and birds, of creeping 
things and things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed 
by mankind: 8 but the tongue can no man tame; if isa 
restless evil, if is full of deadly poison. 9 Therewith bless we 
the Lord and Father; and therewith curse we men, who are 
made after the likeness of God: 10 out of the same mouth 
cometh forth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these 
things ought not so to be. 11 Doth the fountain send forth 
from the same opening sweet water and bitter? 12 can a 
fig tree, my brethren, yield olives, or a vine figs? neither can 
salt water yield sweet. 


In a previous passage of the epistle, James has exposed 
the folly of imagining oneself to be religious while the 
tongue is uncontrolled. It is natural, therefore, for him to 
enlarge upon this theme, after setting forth the vanity of a 
“‘faith’’ which expresses itself only in words and not in 
works. Those most tempted to such self-deception and 
to such dead orthodoxy are teachers of religious truth, and 
it is such, first of all, who are in the mind of the writer as 
he pens this searching passage on the sins of the tongue. 
It is hardly necessary to note that by “‘the tongue”’ James 
means the gift of speech. The whole paragraph abounds 
in figures and pictures. We see the horse held in by the 
bit, the ship turned by the touch of the pilot, the forest set 


30 EPISTLE OF JAMES James 3: 1-12 


aflame by the smallest spark, venomous beasts, fruitful 
trees, and gushing fountains. It is a striking instance of 
the vivid and picturesque style of the writer; but it sug- 
gests what to his mind was the importance and the 
power of human speech. While he dwells on the evil 
possibilities of the tongue, he nevertheless has in mind its 
possibilities for good. Thus when he warns his readers 
against too great eagerness to be teachers, it is on the 
ground that as such their responsibility is greater; but 
the responsibility is greater only because of the largeness 
of their opportunity and privilege. Of course the abuse 
of such privilege involves the greater guilt. ‘Be not 
many of you teachers, my brethren, knowing that we shall 

receive heavier judgment.’ Teachers of religious truth 
are sorely needed; theirs is the highest of callings; yet 
one should be diffident in assuming the task as he remem- 
bers that “in many things we all stumble.” The right 
use of speech, the proper control of the tongue, James 
declares, is a proof of Christian maturity, whether in the 
case of a teacher or a hearer: “If any stumbleth not in 
word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole 
body also.”” This point he illustrates by his picture of the 
horse; in spite of its spirit and strength its whole body 
can be controlled by the one who controls the bit. The 
same point is illustrated by the ship: even though its size 
is so vast, and opposing storms are so fierce, still its course 
is easily determined by the one who holds the helm. These 
two pictures illustrate also another principle: they not 
only show how one who controls his tongue can control his 
whole being, but also that if the tongue is given control it 
will imperil the entire life. The tongue is like the bit and 
like the rudder. ‘‘So the tongue also is a little member, 
and boasteth great things.’’ It boasts. We were ready 
for the word “‘directs” or ‘‘controls’’ or ‘achieves,’ but the 
word “‘boasteth’’ is suggestive of evil and prepares us for 
the following description of perilous power. 

As a single spark sets fire to the stately forest, so one 
malicious word may bring disaster to a life or a community. 
Thus James calls the tongue ‘‘a fire: the world of iniquity 
among our members . . . which defileth the whole 


James 3:1-12 CONTROL OF THE TONGUE 31 


body”; it sets ablaze the whole round of our existence 
and our being, and its destructive power is satanic: it 
“is set on fire by hell.” The impossibility of bringing it 
under control is further emphasized by comparison with 
savage and venomous animals: ‘For every kind of beasts 
and birds, of creeping things and things in the sea, is 
tamed, and hath been tamed by mankind: but the tongue 
can no man tame.” Of course James is not considering 
here what can be done by the grace and Spirit of God. 
He means that by nature the gift of speech is-less com- 
monly brought under control of man, than are the fiercest 
of the beasts about him. Like such beasts, the tongue is 
restless, unreliable, treacherous; like a serpent it is armed 
with venom, “‘it is full of deadly poison.” 

Last of all James emphasizes the strange perversity and 
inconsistency with which men use the gift of speech. 
With the tongue praises are offered to our heavenly 
Father, and with the same tongue curses are pronounced 
upon his children whom he has created in his own image; 
“out of the same mouth cometh forth blessing and curs- 
ing.” “‘My brethren, these things ought not so to be.” 
The simplest objects in the world about us rebuke such a 
practice as unnatural: ‘‘Doth the fountain send forth from 
the same opening sweet water and bitter?” It is not un- 
usual to find a spring the water of which is brackish and 
bitter, but who ever found such a spring which at the same 
time produced water which was sweet? ‘Can a fig tree, 
my brethren, yield olives, or a vine figs? neither can salt 
water yield sweet.’ These last figures contain not only 
a rebuke of the perverse and sinful abuse of speech; 
they also suggest the probable explanation of such an 
abuse. ‘The tree is known by its fruit,’’ and ‘“‘out of the 
abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” An evil 
tongue is a sign of an evil nature. Unkind, bitter, impure 
speech suggests the need of a new birth; it is an indication 
that the speaker, whatever his position or profession, is 
not filled with the Spirit of God. His faith is dead, his 
religion is not true. The use of the tongue is a test of 
life. Unless controlled by the power of Christ, the gift 
of speech may prove a deadly peril to the soul. 


33 EPISTLE OF JAMES james 3: 13-18 


6. FALSE AND TRUE Wispom. Ch. 3: 13-18 


13 Who is wise and understanding among you? let him 
show by his good life his works in meekness of wisdom. 14 
But if ye have bitter jealousy and faction in your heart, glory 
not and lie not against the truth. 15 This wisdom is not 
a wisdom that cometh down from above, but is earthly, 
sensual, devilish. 16 For where jealously and faction are, 
there is confusion and every vile deed. 17 But the wisdom 
that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy 
to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without vari- 
ance, without hypocrisy. 18 And the fruit of righteousness 
is sown in peace for them that make peace. 


The churches addressed by James were troubled by the 
contentions of self-appointed teachers who were proud of 
boasted knowledge, who were fond of dispute, who were 
bitter in their discussions, who were more eager to defeat 
their opponents than to establish the truth. Having 
rebuked their evil use of the tongue, James suggests that 
the fault is due to their evil hearts, and that their vaunted 
wisdom, judged by its expression, is false and unreal. 
Unfortunately the persons described are not confined to 
the class of teachers or to the churches of the first century. 
The spirit here reproved is manifested to-day by many 
who profess to know Christ, and who claim, in their angry 
disputes, to be defending his cause. 

“Who is wise and understanding among you?”’ James 
does not intend to suggest, by his question, that none were 
such, but rather to challenge those who had been loudest 
in their boasts. ‘‘Let him show by his good life his works 
in meekness of wisdom.’’ This is a fair test. This is the 
main point of the epistle. This is the modern demand for 
reality in religion. Let faith be proved by deeds, let 
wisdom be shown by works. 

In mentioning the test of ‘‘meekness,’’ James does not 
mean to advocate weakness, the two should never be 
associated. Only the strong, who are conscious of their 
power, are truly meek; the insistence here is upon the 


James 3:13-18 FALSE AND TRUE WISDOM 33 


modesty which is the mark of true wisdom. ‘But if ye 
have bitter jealousy and faction in your heart,’’ if cruel 
envy and a narrow party spirit are your motives, ‘‘glory 
not’”’ even though you are fighting on the right side, even 
though you seem to have scored a victory, ‘‘and lie not 
against the truth,’ for your spirit shows your boasted 
wisdom to be false. rete 

The character of this false ‘‘wisdom’’ is described as 
being not “from above’’; it does not have its source in 
God. It is “earthly,” bounded by earthly horizons, in 
accordance with earthly standards, identified with earthly 
motives, plainly contradicting the claims of heavenly 
knowledge and revealed truth; it is ‘‘sensual,’’ by which is 
meant not merely fleshly, but unspiritual, characterizing 
only the ‘‘natural man’ uninfluenced by the Spirit of 
God, and so proving false all pretensions of divine en- 
uightenment and superior knowledge; it is ‘‘devilish,”’ 
it is one with the spirit that animates demons., It may be 
employed in discussing religious truth, it may be displayed 
in defending ‘“‘orthodoxy,”’ but it is evidently not inspired 
by the Spirit of God; no matter what his intellectual 
attainments, no one should pride himself upon a wisdom 
which is so closely allied with ‘‘the world, the flesh, and 
the devil.” 

The result of this false wisdom is described as being 
utter ‘‘confusion” and evil of every kind; for heated de- 
bates, proud display of learning, bitter sarcasm, lead only 
to discord and separations; ‘“‘for where jealousy and 
faction are, there is confusion and every vile deed.” 

In striking contrast, James describes ‘‘the wisdom that 
is from above.” It is ‘‘first’’ of all and supremely ‘‘pure,”’ 
cleansed from all stain of selfishness and dedicated wholly 
to the service of God. It is “then peaceable’’—not at 
the price of purity, not so as to compromise truth, not so 
as to countenance evil—yet not quarrelsome, not conten- 
tious, not desiring to dispute, but hungering for peace even 
if compelled to fight. It is ‘“‘gentle,”’ not always insisting 
upon its rights, considerate of others, characterized by 
“sweet reasonableness.’’ It is ‘easy to be entreated,”’ 
not stubborn, not refusing to do a thing because it has been 


34 EPISTLE OF JAMES James 3: 13-18 


suggested by another, submissive, tractable, conciliatory. 
It is ‘full of mercy and good fruits’; instead of envy and 
hatred it is characterized by compassion and love; instead 
of producing bitterness and confusion and wrath, its fruit- 
age is helpfulness, and kindness, and joy, and enlarging 
life. It is “without variance,’’ which probably means 
“without vacillation”’ or doubt or indecision or uncertainty, 
but with definiteness of conviction. It is ‘without hypoc- 
risy,’’ it needs none; it has nothing to hide, it makes no 
pretense; it is absolutely honest and sincere. Such is the 
heavenly ‘‘wisdom,” the divine understanding which God 
gives to those who really trust in him. Those who are 
thus endowed, those who in contrast with the lovers of 
strife are makers of peace, those who really sow the seed 
of peace, are preparing no harvest of evil and distress, 
but the blessed and peaceful fruits of righteousness, 


James 4: 1-10 WORLDLY LUSTS 35 


7. WorLpLy Lusts. Ch. 4: 1-10 


1 Whence come wars and whence come fightings among 
you? come they not hence, even of your pleasures that 
war in your members? 2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, 
and covet, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war; ye have 
not, because ye ask not. 3 Ye ask, and receive not, 
because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend if in your pleasures. 
4 Ye adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the 
world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore would be a 
friend of the world maketh himself an enemy of God. 5 Or 
think ye that the scripture speaketh in vain? Doth the spirit 
which he made to dwell in us long unto envying? 6 But he 
giveth more grace. Wherefore the scripture saith, God 
resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. 7 Be 
subject therefore unto God; but resist the devil, and he will 
flee from you. 8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh 
to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your 
hearts, ye doubleminded. 9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and 
weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your 
joy to heaviness. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the 
Lord, and he shall exalt you. 


How can war be ended forever? How eagerly this 
question is being asked by a world in anguish, and what 
various replies are being made! James proposes a more 
profound question: ‘‘What is the occasion of war.’ 
“Whence come wars and whence come fightings among 
you?” Only when the causes are removed will wars cease 
to devastate and destroy. These causes, James intimates, 
may be found in the selfishness of the human heart, in the 
desire for possessions and power, and in worldly lusts. 
It is probable that the primary reference in this paragraph 
is not to wars between nations, but to the strifes and 
factions in the Christian Church which the writer has been 
rebuking. He has spoken of the abuse of the tongue and 
has exposed the false wisdom of the wrangling teachers; 
he now traces the evils to their source and shows the seri- 
ousness of their results. The latter is emphasized by the 
use of the words ‘‘wars” and ‘‘fightings’’ which are con- 


36 ) EPISTLE OF JAMES James 4: 1-10 


trasted with the ‘“‘peace’’ of true wisdom which the pre- 
ceding verse has set forth. These ‘‘wars,’’ whether be- 
tween nations or individuals, are due to selfishness, or, as 
James says in addressing these professed Christians: 
“Come they not hence, even of your pleasures that war 
in your members?” By ‘“‘pleasures’’ he means the love 
of sinful, sensuous, selfish gratifications. These “‘lusts”’ 
encamp in our bodily members; here first they make 
themselves felt, and these are the instruments they first 
employ. These “‘lusts,’’ these unrestrained cravings, these 
covetous desires, may grow stronger even when not grati- 
fied, and may result in murder, at least in thought if not 
in act, in envy, in fighting and war: “Ye lust, and have 


not: ye kill, and covet, and cannot obtain: ye fight and 


war.’’ Even prayer is resorted to as a means of securing 
the desired satisfaction: ‘‘Ye have not, because ye ask 
not’; such a mere travesty upon prayer is of course 
unanswered. ‘‘Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask 
amiss, that you may spend it in your pleasures’; such isa 
perversion of the true spirit of prayer which is submission 
to the will of God; here the desire is consciously opposed to 
his will. It is of course proper to pray for personal bene- 
fits, if these are innocent, and for material blessings if these 
are needed; but to ask for help in gratifying impure or sinful 
or selfish impulses is an impertinence and an insult to God. 

In fact, it is our relation to God as professing Christians 
that suggests the more serious aspect of the issue of our 
‘worldly lusts’; they not only lead us to fight and war 
against our fellow men, but they make us disloyal to God. 
This disloyalty is expressed under the Old Testament 
figure of “‘adultery’’: ‘Ye adulteresses, know ye not that 
the friendship of the world is enmity with God?” To 
him we have sworn our allegiance and our fidelity; if 
then our heart is given to ‘‘the world”’ of lust and greed and 
indulgence, we are faithless to our most solemn vows. One 
must choose between God and ‘‘the world”’ of selfish pleas- 
ures and sin; a preference for the latter is open hostility to 
God: ‘Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the world 
maketh himself an enemy of God.’”’ The fault is all the 
greater because of God’s infinite love for us. Asa husband 


James 4: 1-10 “WORLDLY LUSTS 37 


can brook no rival for the affections of his wife, God is 
jealous for the individual affection of his people. Love 
hungers for love. Is it true then, of any of us, that our 
affection is so alienated as to move God to envy; or 
that, as some have translated the phrase, ‘‘the Spirit 
which he made to dwell in us jealously yearns for the 
entire devotion of the heart?” 

‘But he giveth more grace,”’ that is, the very greatness 
of his love leads him not to cast us off.for our unfaithful- 
ness, but to receive and to forgive us when we turn to 
him. Yes, this infinite love enables him to realize how 
strong are the attractions which draw us away, and to 
give us all needed grace when we humbly look to him for 
help: ‘God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the 
humble. Be subject therefore unto God.’ Do not 
presume upon his goodness; do not weakly yield to 
temptation; do not expect him to keep you from falling 
unless you are resolute in your determination and are 
bravely fighting against sin. All theories of Christian 
experience which suggest the inactivity of the human will, 
and prescribe mere submission and dependence on the 
part of the believer, are dangerous. ‘‘Resist the devil, and 
he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw 
nigh to you.’”’ Both actions and attitudes are to be ours; 
neither is to be minimized nor neglected. 

So common is our unfaithfulness that we may well heed, 
as directed to us, the solemn call to repentance with which 
the paragraph is brought to a close: ‘Cleanse your 
hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double- 
minded’’; let us separate ourselves from all sinful alliances, 
let us cease from all divided allegiance and devotion. 
“Beafflicted, and mourn and weep’’: not because religion 
is a matter of gloom and sadness, but because we are too 
far tempted to miss its real joy by treating our sins lightly 
and failing to surrender our whole hearts to God. Some 
people have only enough religion to make them miserable. 
If we should renounce all that may be contrary to the will 
of God if we should make him the center of our affections, 
we should know in all its fullness the joy of his salvation: 
“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall 
exalt you.”’ 


38 EPISTLE OF JAMES _ Jaines 4: 11, 12 


8. CENSORIOUSNESS. Ch. 4:11, 12 


11 Speak not one against another, brethren. He that 
speaketh against a brother, or judgeth his brother, speaketh 
against the law, and judgeth the law: ‘but if thou judgest the 
law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. 12 One 
only is the lawgiver and judge, even he who is able to save 
and to destroy: but who art thou that judgest thy neighbor? 


In reading these words we are at once reminded of the 
Sermon on the Mount: “Judge not, that ye be not judged. 
: . And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy 
brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine 
own eye?”’; or we recall the Epistle to the Romans: “But 
thou, why dost thou judge thy brother? . . . for we shall 
all stand before the judgment-seat of God.’”’ But not only 
do they reflect the teachings of Jesus and of Paul; they are 
also vitally related to what has been said by James. 
He has rebuked the abuse of the tongue which is employed 
in criticizing our brethren; he has exposed the pride of 
false ‘‘wisdom” which leads us to form unjust judgments; 
he has rebuked the selfish desires which result in “wars” 
and contention and which make us untrue to God; he 
now warns us against censoriousness as usurping the place 
of God as lawgiver and judge. 

“Speak not one against another.’’ We cannot avoid 
forming opinions of our fellow men, but these should not 
be unjust or unkind; and, whether good or bad, opinions 
need not always be expressed. Itis the love of finding fault 
which James here rebukes. It is the same sin which is 
censured by Jesus and by Paul, but the condemnation is on 
different grounds. Jesus intimates the folly of finding 
fault with those who are probably much better than our- 
selves; Paul censures the presumption of correcting one 
who is not your servant and who must answer to the divine 
Master to whom he belongs; James argues that evil- 
speaking and censoriousness involve a breach of the law, 
an actual repudiation of the law: ‘‘He that speaketh 


James 4: 11, 12 CENSORIOUSNESS 39 


against a brother, or judgeth his brother, speaketh against 
the law, and judgeth the law.”’ Of course the law to which 
James refers is the law of love, “‘the royal law,”’ ‘“‘thou shalt 
love thy neighbor as thyself.” One who is unkind in his 
criticisms not only breaks this law, but he condemns it 
as too high in its requirements or as unwise or unnecessary; 
he says in effect that he is superior to the law of love; 
he seems to argue that while it may be a good law for some 
people at some times, a superior person like himself cannot 
be bound by it, particularly in this imperfect world where 
some people need to be disciplined by his severe rebukes 
and punished by his stinging tongue. James intimates 
that, to say the least, it is better to keep the law of love 
than to try to find exceptions to its universal obligation. 
Most serious of all, such an attitude toward the law and 
toward other persons as is involved in censoriousness 1s 
invading the rights and prerogatives of God; he alone is 
the source of law, he alone is qualified to condemn men: 
“One only is the lawgiver and judge’; he allows no one to 
cancel his laws or to debate his decisions. The right is 
based upon his unique power; he “‘is able to save and to 
destroy’’; he who can determine the fate of immortal 
souls is qualified to pronounce sentence upon them. 

By way of contrast, James asks, ‘‘But who art thou that 
judgest thy neighbor?’’? What superior virtue, power, 
holiness, wisdom do you possess? A humble searching of 
our own hearts removes all eagerness to criticize and con- 
demn others. ‘‘Love covereth a multitude of sins’; 
love “‘beareth all things’; “love suffereth long, and is 
kind.” 


40 EPISTLE OF JAMES James 4: 13-17 


9. SELF-CONFIDENCE. Ch. 4 : 13-17 | 


13 Come now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will 
go into this city, and spend a year there, and trade, and 
get gain: 14 whereas ye know not what shall be on the mor- 
row. What is your life? For ye are a vapor that appeareth 
for a little time, and then vanisheth away. 15 For that ye 
ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall both live, and do this 
or that. 16 But now ye glory in your vauntings: all such 
glorying is evil. 17 To him therefore that knoweth to do 
good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. 


James has just condemned the selfish, worldly spirit 
which manifests itself in “wars and fightings,’’ and also 
the presumption which takes the place of God in pro- 
nouncing judgment upon our fellow men. ‘These are close- 
ly related to the false confidence in which we make plans 
for the future with no thought of God. As he now turns 
to rebuke such godless conceit, James rehearses the 
imaginary words of certain Jewish traders who are per- 
fecting their schemes for a coming year: ‘‘Come now, ye 
that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into this city, 
and spend a year there, and trade, and get gain.”” Every 
step is detailed with absolute assurance, no suggestion is 
made of divine providence, no thought is entertained as to 
the will of God. ‘To-day or to-morrow”’ are regarded as 
alike completely within their power; the journey to the 
city selected is certain to be safe: the year is quite at their 
disposal; neither sickness nor disaster can possibly come; 
the business venture is sure to be prosperous; such seem 
to be the thoughts of these confident merchants, and their 
spirit is too commonly reflected by the professed followers 
of Christ. We are all tempted to regard the future with 
presumptuous assurance. We all need to be reminded of 
the words of James: ‘‘Whereas ye know not what shall be 
on the morrow. What is your life? For ye area vapor 
that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” 
Not that it is wrong to make plans, not that it is wrong to 


James 4: 13-17 SELF-CONFIDENCE 41 


engage in business, not that it is wrong to expect “‘gain’’; 
but the uncertain tenure of life, the mystery of the future, 
the knowledge that God has for each of us a purpose anda 
plan, should make us conscious of our dependence upon 
him, and eager to know and to do his will: ‘For that ye 
ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall both live, and do this 
or that.’’ James does not mean that the expressions, 
“Please God” or “The Lord willing,’’ should continualiy 
be on our lips; that might be mere formalism or cant; 
but the truth of God’s providence, the belief that life and 
its blessings are his gifts, the reverent conviction that the 
future is wholly within his power, should so mold all our 
thinking that self-confidence and presumption would be 
impossible. On the contrary, to forget God, to plan 
with no thought of him,to regard the future with boastful 
assurance, is not only foolish, it is wicked: ‘‘But now ye 
glory in your vauntings; all such glorying is evil.”” James 
concludes the paragraph by referring to a principle of wide 
scope and great importance: ‘‘To him therefore that 
knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” 
It is not only wrong to perform an act which we know to 
be contrary to the will of God, or about which we are un- 
certain; it is also wrong to fail to do what we know to be 
the will of God. It does not make life burdensome or 
gloomy, but it fills it with joy and satisfaction, when in 
all its choices and crises we can say from the heart: “If 
the Lord will, we shall both live, and do this or that.’’ 
Surely ‘‘in his will is our peace.” 


42 EPISTLE OF JAMES ‘James 5: 1-6 


10. Tur Doom OF THE Oppressor. Ch. 5: 1-6 


1 Come now, ye rich, weep and howl for your miseries 
that are coming upon you. 2 Your riches are corrupted, and 
your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and your silver 
are rusted; and their rust shall be for a testimony against 
you, and shall eat your flesh as fire. Ye have laid up your 
treasure in the last days. 4 Behold, the hire of the laborers 
who mowed your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, 
crieth out: and the cries of them that reaped have entered 
into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. 5 Ye have lived delicately 
on the earth, and taken your pleasure; ye have nourished 
‘your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 Ye have condemned, 
ye have killed the righteous one; he doth not resist you. 


It is easy to criticize the rich, and in some quarters it 
is always popular to denounce men of wealth. It must be 
remembered, however, that no sin is involved in the 
possession of money,and that there is no virtue in being 
poor. Wealth has peculiar temptations and grave re- 
sponsibilities; yet not all rich persons are to be condemned 
or to be under suspicion. If povertyis voluntarily assumed, 
it should be for some good purpose. As to riches, 
two questions should be asked: How are they secured? 
How are they used? The persons whom James condemned 
were guilty on both these counts. They may have been 
Christians, or, more probably, unconverted Jews; beyond 
doubt they belonged to a class with which we are all 
familiar to-day. They had amassed their wealth by fraud 
and cruelty; they were spending it in selfish luxury. 

Upon such James pronounces a solemn doom, as he 
warns them that the coming of Christ may be near: 
‘“‘Come now, ye rich, weep and howl for your miseries that 
are coming upon you.” Their folly appears in the heaping 
together of unused wealth; if it consists of products of the 
earth, it will corrupt; if in garments, they will be eaten 
by moths; if in precious metals, they will tarnish and rust; 
its rapid decay isa fit symbol of the swift destruction of its 
owners.- Their folly is seen further in the fact that 


James 5:1-6 DOOM OF THE OPPRESSOR 43 


their struggle for wealth is made under the shadow of 
approaching doom: ‘“Yehave laid up your treasure in the 
last days.’”’ The possibility that the return of Christ 
might be near, like the fact of the brevity and uncertainty 
of life, should be a warning against the worldly spirit which 
in the previous paragraph led to presumptuous plans for 
the future, and which here is expressed in amassing wealth 
which the owners never can enjoy. 

These rich men, however, are guilty not only of folly 
but also of sin. Their wealth has been secured by injus- 
tice: ‘Behold, the hire of the laborers who mowed your 
fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth out.” 
This is the crime of oppressors in all ages, refusing a 
fair wage, keeping back what has been earned by the em- 
ployees whose toil has secured the wealth the employers 
enjoy. This, supremely, occasions ‘“‘the social question.” 
Such injustice is related to other forms of cruelty; ‘Ye 
have condemned, ye have killed the righteous one; he 
doth not resist you.”” It was easy for the wealthy to con- 
trol the processes of law for condemning and defrauding 
the helpless poor; the latter were being ‘‘killed’”’ not 
necessarily with the sword, but by lackof food and improper 
conditions of labor and by the crushing monotony of 
ceaseless toil; but the silent appeal of their patient help- 
lessness was unheeded. The rich oppressors were deaf to 
all entreaties. They were too much occupied in their own 
enjoyments to know the very conditions which existed. 
Their sin consisted not only in the injustice by which 
their wealth was secured, but in the prodigal luxury in 
which it was spent: ‘‘Ye have lived delicately on the earth, 
and taken your pleasure.’’? There was One, however, who 
heard the moaning of the helpless sufferers: their cries 
“have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.” 
The guilty oppressors are like sheep, fattening themselves 
for slaughter; the Lord of Hosts soon will lay bare his 
arm. Doom is certain, 


44 EPISTLE OF JAMES James 5:7-f1 


11. PATIENCE IN SUFFERING. Ch. 5: 7-11 


7 Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the 
Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious 
fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receive the 
early and latter rain. 8 Be ye also patient; establish your 
hearts: for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Murmur 
not, brethren, one against another, that ye be not judged: 
behold, the judge standeth before the doors. 10 Take, 
brethren, for an example of suffering and of patience, the 
prophets who spake in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we 
call them blessed that endured: ye have heard of the patience 
of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, how that the Lord 
is full of pity, and merciful. 


The suffering by which the readers were being tried was 
caused by cruel oppression, especially on the part of 
employers. Under these conditions employees are tempted 
to words and deeds unworthy of Christians. While every 
lawful effort should be made to better conditions and to 
secure justice for themselves and others, nevertheless, 
under even the most cruel treatment, believers must 
manifest a spirit of patient endurance. 

The motive to which James appeals is the expectation 
of the speedy return of Christ: ‘‘Be patient therefore, 
brethren, until the coming of the Lord.” Many wrongs 
may be righted, many social customs may be improved, 
before the visible reappearing of the Saviour, but his com- 
ing is ‘‘the blessed hope,” both for the Church and the 
world; then justice will be meted out to oppressor and 
oppressed; then will begin an age of righteousness and 
peace. : 

The illustration suggested by the writer is that of a 
farmer who, after planting the seed, waits for the early 
rain in the fall and the “‘latter rain’ in the spring and so 
for the ripened harvest: “Be ye also patient; establish 
your hearts: for the coming of the Lord is at hand.” 
Meanwhile, their grievous sufferings must not make them 
fretful and complaining and unforgiving in their relations 


James 5: 7-11 PATIENCE IN SUFFERING 45 


with fellow Christians; at his coming the Lord will bring 
judgment upon them as well as vengeance upon their 
enemies. They might also be encouraged by the example 
of ancient prophets and saints who testified and suffered 
in the name of the Lord: ‘Behold, we call them blessed 
that endured.’’ They are reminded in particular of Job; 
he was not very patient, if by patience we mean freedom 
from complaint and irritation and anger, but here the 
thought is of steadfast ‘‘endurance,’”’.the quality of in- 
vincible faith in God; this Job possessed, and his whole 
life story is an illustration of how, in the end, the Lord 
always shows his pity and mercy and vindicates his 
i ustice and his love toward those that trust and “wait for” 
im. 


46 EPISTLE OF JAMES James 5:12 


12) PROFANITY] Ch 57912 


12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither 
by the heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath: 
but let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay; that ye fall not 
under judgment. 


Profane swearing is one of the worst and most senseless 
of sins; yet, possibly it is as prevalent to-day asat any time 
since James wrote these lines. It would be interesting 
to study the philosophy or the psychology of swearing. 
The practice may spring from a desire for emphasis, 
particularly when one is provoked and seeks to express 
disapproval and disgust. This explanation may account 
for the connection in which these words are found. James 
has just referred to the cruel oppression of the rich and 
powerful, and to their unjust treatment of Christians; 
he now insists that under even such provocation one is not 
to take the name of the Lord, our God, in vain, or to dis- 
obey the strict injunction of Jesus Christ: ‘‘Swear not at 
all.” The exact words of our Lord were undoubtedly in 
mind and were quoted in part by James. The question 
has often been raised whether the reference here includes 
the prohibition of oaths in courts of law; it would seem, 
from the practice of Paul, of Jesus before his judges, of the 
early Church, and of the Old Testament requirements, 
that legal oaths are not here in mind; however, it must be 
admitted that even such swearing is a concession to the 
dishonesty and incredulity of men—it would not be 
necessary in an ideal society; yet, as its aim is to secure 
veracity and to defend truth, its practice may hasten the 
day when ‘“‘yea”’ and “‘nay”’ will suffice to establish legal 
testimony. Surely the use of the divine name to express 
irritation and anger or to strengthen ordinary affirmation 
of speech, is not only frivolous and foolish, but irreverent 
and sinful; it brings one ‘“‘under judgment.’ It can usual- 
lv be corrected by that which underlies the keeping of all 
law, namely, truer love to God and to men. 


James 5: 13-18 PRAYER FOR THE SICK 47 


13. THE PRAYER FOR THE Sick. Ch. 5: 13-18 

13 Is any among you suffering? let him pray. Is any cheer- 
ful? let him sing praise. 14 Is any among you sick? let him 
call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over 
him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15 and 
the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick, and the Lord 
shall raise him up; and if he have comniitted sins, it shall be 
forgiven him. 16 Confess therefore your sins one to an- 
other, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. 
The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its 
working. 17 Elijah was a man of like passions with us, and 
he prayed fervently that it might not rain; and it rained not 
on the earth for three years and six months. 18 And he 
prayed again; and the heaven gave rain, and the earth 
brought forth her fruit. 

This difficult but helpful passage is introduced with a 
possible reference to the verse which precedes; not pro- 
fanity but prayer and praise are the proper expressions of 
emotion: “Is anv among you suffering,’ in body or mind 
or estate? “‘lIet him pray. Is any cheerful? let him sing 
praise.’ Worship which consists in prayer and praise, 
worship, whether in private or public, is the channel by 
which our excited feelings are to be given an outlet. 
Whenever the mind is violently agitated, the most rational 
relief will be found in an act of worship; above all, in 
times of distress our recourse should be to prayer. 

One of the most common occasions of distress is that of 
sickness. James mentions this as a specific case in which 
believers are to seek relief in prayer, and his words form 
the famous passage on “prayer and bodily healing’’: 
“Ts any among you sick? let him call for the elders of the 
church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with 
oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall 
save him that is sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and 
if he have committed sins, it shall be forgiven him.” In 
reference to a passage so much debated it would be foolish 
to speak with dogmatic assurance. <A few suggestions, 
however, may be of help. 


48 , EPISTLE OF JAMES _ James 5: 13-18 


1. The use of oil as a medicine, and its application in 
cases of disease, has been familiar in all ages; and it isa 
sufficiently satisfactory interpretation of these verses to 
say that they prescribe, in the case of bodily sickness, 
prayer and the use of simple remedies. 

2. It may be, however, that sending for “‘elders’’ in- 
stead of a “beloved physician,” and the anointing with 
oil ‘‘in the name of the Lord,”’ point to the regulated exer- 
cise of the miraculous “‘gift of healing,’’which undoubtedly 
was granted to the early Church, but which, like the gifts 
of ‘‘tongues,” and ‘“‘prophecy”’ and “immunity from deadly 
poisons,” no longer exists. 

3. The emphasis is on “‘the prayer of faith,”’, and pos- 
sibly the ‘‘oil’”’ is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, by whom the 
cure was to be effected; the faith of the sufferer would be 
strengthened by the use of the familiar remedy, and, as 
his sins seem to have been connected with the cause 
of his disease, he would be reminded of the cleansing and 
healing power of the Spirit of God. 

4. There is no reference here to ‘extreme unction’’; this 
is designed to prepare the soul for death; the anointing 
by ‘‘the elders’’ was intended to restore the body to 
health. 

5. Here the confession of sins was not to a priest or to an 
elder alone, but to any fellow Christian: ‘‘Confess there- 
fore your sins one to another, and pray one for another, 
that ye may be healed.” 

6. In all modern uses of the passage care should be 
taken to distinguish between ‘“‘the prayer of faith,’’ and 
such beliefs and practices as are associated with ‘‘Chris- 
tian Science,” ‘‘Mental Healing,’ or ‘‘Faith Healing.’’ 
“‘Christian Science’”’ is in conflict with physical science in 
its views of matter, of pain, of disease, and of death; it 
contradicts Christianity in denying the incarnation, the 
death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. ‘Mental 
Healing” may be quite independent of any religious belief, 
or on the other hand it may be united with Christian faith; 
but it operates according to the scientific law of “the 
effect of mind upon matter.”’ Its greatest failures are due 
to neglecting the complementary principle of “‘the effect 


James 5: 13-18 PRAYER FOR THE SICK 49 


of matter upon mind.” “Faith Healing’”’ forbids the use 
of all physical means, and any employment of physical 
science in the treatment of disease. Its advocates are 
devout and sincere and intelligent Christians. It is a 
mistake to confuse them with ‘Christian Scientists,’’ or 
“Mental Healers.’ Their errors consist in the belief 
that the use of natural means is dishonoring to God; in 
their exclusive claim of “spiritual healing,” when in reality 
a cure effected by a physician or surgeon might as truly be 
“spiritual,’’ accomplished by the power and guidance of 
the Spirit of God; in their oblivion to the fact that the 
cures in which they rejoice are effected by the use of means, 
namely, by means of mental suggestion made by their 
prayers and their anointings. 

7. “The prayer of faith” is offered in the assurance that 
God can work with or without means known to man, but 
in the belief that all wise remedies should be employed, 
while the trust is in God, and while the will is submissive to 
the will of God. The faith is not in the means, but in 
God who works through the means. In the whole passage 
the emphasis is upon the need of faith, and upon the power 
of believing prayer. Thus the paragraph closes with the 
example of Elijah, at whose request rain was given or 
withheld. The fact is emphasized that he was ‘‘a man of 
like passions with us” and that we need not wait until we 
become perfect before we pray; yet his was a prayer of 
intense earnestness and triumphant faith. In applying 
the truth of this paragraph we should guard against the 
employment of prayer without means, and also of means 
without praver. We should remember that the other 
equally famous passage of this epistle insists that “faith 
apart from works is dead.” 


50 “EPISTLE OF JAMES: Jamies 5:19, 20 


14. Savinc Souts. Ch. 5:19, 20 


19 My brethren, if any among you err from the truth, and 
one convert him; 20 let him know, that he who converteth 
a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from 
death, and shall cover a multitude of sins. 


The last message of the epistle is vitally related to the 
message which precedes. There we were concerned with 
bodily healing, but also with the forgiveness of the sins 
to which the sickness may have been due; here we are 
encouraged to have a part in the healing of souls; but while | 
in the former case we were concerned with those who felt 
their need, here we are encouraged to seek for those who 
may be ignorant of their danger or indifferent to their 
peril. The case is that of one who has gone astray: he 
has erred ‘‘from the truth,” not so much in the matter of 
belief as of practice. To bring him back again to the right 
path will “save a soul from death,” and “cover a multitude 
of sins.”’ In such saving work every follower of Christ 
may be engaged. Surely we shal! need to resort anew, as 
in the cases of physical healing, to the ‘‘prayer of faith’’; 
surely there must be in our own religious experiences that 
reality upon which the epistle everywhere insists; surely, 
we must seek ‘‘the wisdom that is from above,’ which is 
“first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, 
full of mercy and good fruits, without variance, without 
hypocrisy.” 


Gikol sh hist ik OF PEDER 51 


THE FIRST EPISTLE OF 
PETER 


Who does not know Simon Peter, and who has not found 
in him a kindred spirit? Brave, impulsive, confident, 
unstable, affectionate Peter! Of all the apostles his 
career is most vivid in memory, his character is most 
human and most real. 

It is easy to imagine his early life as a fisherman of 
Galilee, or to picture his interest in the preaching of the 
Baptist and his first meeting with Jesus, or to recall how 
he left his boat and his nets to become a fisher of men, 
how he entered the inner circle of his Master’s friends and 
became the leader and spokesman for the Twelve. It is 
not difficult to sketch the scenes where he attempts to 
walk on the water, where he boldly confesses his faith in 
_ Christ, where he speaks bewildered by the glory of the 
transfrguration, where he protests his deathless love, where 
he sleeps in the Garden and awakes to attempt the rash 
defense of his Lord whom he then forsakes and with an 
oath denies. We see him weeping in deep penitence, 
running to the empty tomb, meeting the risen Saviour, and 
later receiving a new commission in the morning twilight 
by the lake. How distinctly we remember him as he 
speaks to the trembling multitudes at Pentecost, heals the 
lame man at the Beautiful Gate, boldly faces the Jewish 
rulers, meets Cornelius and opens the Church to Gentile 
believers, is imprisoned by Herod and delivered by the 
angel, bravely defends Christian liberty in the council at 
Jerusalem and denies it in principle by his behavior at 
Antioch. 

It is not difficult even to accept the shadowy legends 
which concern his later life, and to imagine that he 
preached at Rome, that as he attempted to escape the 
rising storm of persecution he met his Master at the city 
gate and asked him whither he was going (‘“Domine, quo 
vadis’’), and received the reply, “I go to Rome, there to be 


34 


52 FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER 


crucified once more,’’ that he turned back to suffer as the 
Master had, only with his head downward that he might 
endure more anguish and more shame than his Lord. 

It may require more effort, however, to picture Peter as 
a prominent figure in the world of literature, and to re- 
member that this ‘‘unlettered layman,’ as the rulers 
regarded him, was one of the authors of the New Testa- 
ment, one of the immortals among the writers of the 
Christian era, and to recall the fact that his abiding influ- 
ence is linked to the two epistles which bear his name. 

The first of these letters was written to Christians 
dwelling in portions of what is now known as Asia Minor. 
Many of these readers were converts from Judaism, and 
Peter writes with continual reference to the Old Testa- 
ment; but large numbers were Gentiles, and frequent | 
mention is made of their former mode of life. More im- 
portant is the fact that all these converts were in the midst 
of cruel hardships and temptations. They were not 
suffering from a persecution instituted by the state, but 
from social ostracism, and from the enmity of fanatical 
Jews and hostile pagans. They were compelled to endure 
slander, violence, hatred, suspicion, loss of goods, worldly 
ruin. To those in distress and trials so bitter and fiery 
Peter writes to give counsel and comfort, to strengthen 
faith and to inspire courage. 

This is an epistle of hope. It points the believer to the 
blessed issues of trial, and teaches him to regard present 
darkness in the light of a future which is radiant with the 
visible glory of Christ. 

It is composed of three great sections which emphasize 
successively the privileges, the duties, and the trials of the 
readers. The presentation is intensely practical. The 
epistle is in substance a threefold series of earnest exhorta- 
tions. It may be outlined as follows: 


1. The Greeting. I Peter 1:1, 2. 

2. The Thanksgiving. Ch. 1 : 3-12. 

3. Exhortations in View of Special Privileges. Ch. 1:13 to 2:10. 
a. Holiness. Ch. 1 : 13-21. 
b. Brotherly Love. Ch. 1 : 22-25. 
c. Growth as the People of God. Ch. 2 : 1-10. 


FIRST EPISTLE/OF PETER 3 


4, Exhortations in View of Special Relations. Ch, 2:11 to 4:11. 


mK AA SA 


- Sojourners. .Ch..2.:.14, 12 

Se Citizensves GN woe O-1 73 

wemervantsier i.e Lo-2 5: 

. Wives and Husbands. Ch. 3: 1-7. 

. Innocent Sufferers. Ch. 3 : 8-22. 

. Opposed by Sinners. Ch. 4: 1-6. 

. Expecting the Coming of Christ. Ch. 4: 7-11. 


5. Exhortations in View of Special Trials. Ch. 4:12 to 5:11. 


a. 
b. 
ce 


Steadfastness. Ch. 4 : 12-19. 
Fidelity. Ch. 5: 1-4. 
Humility, Trust, Vigilance, Constancy. Ch. Sarr0= 11% 


6. The Conclusion. Ch. 5 : 12-14. 
a. The Bearer and Purpose of the Letter. Ch. 5:12. 


b. 


The Salutation and Benediction. Ch. 5:13, 14. 


54 FIRST PETER I Peter 1:1,2 


1. Tae Greetinc. I Peter 1:1, 2 


- 1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect who are so- 
journers of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, 
Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God 
the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and 
sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace 
be multiplied. 


One need not feel deeply concerned in the debate as to 
whether the Christian converts addressed by Peter were 
Gentiles or, as is quite probable, Jews by birth. What 
does thrill us is the belief that the blessings attributed to 
them belong to us, if we belong to Christ. These ‘‘so- 
journers of the Dispersion’”’ in various provinces of modern 
Asia Minor, are called ‘‘elect,’”’ a term which was used to 
describe all believers; they were the chosen people of God, 
the special objects of his mercy and love, and this election 
was ‘‘according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,” 
and due therefore to his deliberate purpose. The very 
sphere of their new life was “‘sanctification.”” The Holy 
Spirit set them apart from the world for the service of God 
and imparted to them his holiness. The purpose was that 
they should obey Christ and become partakers of all the 
benefits secured by his death. For these believers Peter 
voices the prayer: ‘Grace to you and peace be multi- 
plied.” 

So it is true of all Christians; wherever they may be 
scattered abroad throughout the earth, they form one 
race, in virtue of a new and divine birth; they are “‘so- 
journers,” ‘‘pilgrims,’”’ and ‘‘strangers,’’ whose citizenship 
is in heaven, their real home. They owe all that they are 
to the providence and provision of God who sanctifies them 
by his Spirit, who saves them by the work of his Son. 
Thus, in the opening words of this epistle, Peter sets forth 
its three great truths, and indicates its contents; the first 
section deals with the sanctification of the Spirit, the 
second emphasizes the atoning death of the Son, the last 


I Peter 1: 4/2 THE GREETING 55 


concerns the providence of the Father. Thus too, he 
intimates that the salvation secured by the Father, Son, 
and Spirit, involves the free obedience of the human will 
and the offering of devoted service. Therefore as Chris- 
tians, chosen by the Father, sanctified by the Spirit, 
redeemed by the Son, we are to remember with humble 
gratitude that for all we have we are indebted to the 
mercy of God, in all that we are we should depend upon 
the sanctifying influence of his Spirit, in all that we do we 
should seek to glorify his Son. Then we, too, may expect 
that in our experience grace and peace will ‘‘be multiplied.”’ 


56 FIRST PETER I Peter 1: 3-12 


2. THE, THANKSGIVING Gu ole 


3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living 
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 unto 
an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth 
not away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who by the power of 
God are guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be 
revealed in the last time. 6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, 
though now for a little while, if need be, ye have been put 
to grief in manifold trials, 7 that the proof of your faith, 
being more precious than gold that perisheth though it is 
proved by fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honor 
at the revelation of Jesus Christ: 8 whom not having seen ye 
love; on whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, 
ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 9 
receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your 
souls. 10 Concerning which salvation the prophets sought 
and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that 
should come unto you: 11 searching what time or what 
manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did 
point unto, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of 
Christ, and the glories that should follow them. 12 To 
whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto you, 
did they minister these things, which now have been an- 
nounced unto you through them that preached the gospel 
unto you by the Holy Spirit sent forth from heaven; which 
things angels desire to look into. 

As in most Jewish letters the address is followed by a 
blessing. In the former, Peter has shown that our salva- 
tion is secured by Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; he now 
returns thanks for this salvation as certain to be perfected 
in the future, as giving courage in the present, as having 
been predicted in the past. In pointing his readers to the 
future, Peter strikes the keynote of his epistle. It is 
expressed in the word ‘‘hope’’: ‘‘Blessed be the God and 
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great 
mercy begat us again unto a living hope.’’ This hope, 
which is mentioned as the first result of our new birth, is 
defined as “‘living,’’ not only in contrast with the deceitful 


I Peter 1: 3-12 THANKSGIVING 57 


and perishing hopes of earth, not only because its object 
is ‘‘eternal life,’’ but because it is based upon ‘‘the resur- 
rection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”’ This truth of the 
- resurrection holds a prominent place in the writings of 
Peter. He remembers the transforming power of the 
event in his own experience. He mentions it here as the 
very source of the new life of hope imparted to the believer 
by the grace of God. The object of this hope, the final 
blessedness of this life, is defined as being an “‘inher- 
itance,’’ an estate one is to receive from the Father in vir- 
tue of the ‘‘new birth.’”’ This inheritance is ‘‘incorrupt- 
ible,” it has no seeds of decay, it cannot perish; it is ‘“‘unde- 
filed,”’ free from all stain of-sin; it ‘“‘fadeth not away,” 
but is like the unwithering flowers of Paradise; it is 
“reserved in.heaven,’’ kept absolutely secure for those who 
are being kept for it; the latter are being ‘‘guarded,”’ 
kept as in a garrison, ‘“‘by the power of God,” in view of 
their faith in him. From the assaults of trial and distress 
and temptation the besieged soul will soon be delivered. 
This salvation, this object of hope, this other aspect of 
the “‘inheritance,”’ is “ready to be revealed.” This revela- 
tion will be “in the last time,’”’ at the very end of the present 
age, at “the revelation of Jesus Christ,’’ an event which, to 
the mind of the writer, might possibly be near. 

For the present the readers were subjected to manifold 
trials; as the letter shows, they were suffering from hatred, 
suspicion, violence, slander, and cruel persecution; never- 
theless, in view of their coming “‘salvation,”’ they were able 
to rejoice. Their distresses were but ‘‘for a little while’; 
they were part of the mysterious plan and providence of 
God; from them blessings would issue. These trials were 
tests of their faith; by them it was being refined and 
assayed, like gold; gold perishes at last, even though it can 
withstand the test of fire; their faith tested and purified 
would bring to them ‘‘praise and glory and honor’’ when 
Christ, their Saviour, appeared. They were looking and 
longing for his return; though they had never seen him, 
they loved him; though his appearing was delayed, yet 
believing in him and expecting his coming, they were able 
to rejoice with a joy no tongue could express, a joy which 


58 FIRST PETER ‘T Peter 1: 3-12 


was radiant with the glory of his return. So real was their 
faith that they already anticipated and were receiving the 
fulfillment of their hope, the joy of their inheritance, the 
“‘salvation”’ of their souls. 

This salvation, wrought out by Christ, secured by his 
death and resurrection, was so marvelous in its character 
that believers might well rejoice in its possession. It had 
been the object of deepest concern and wonder to inspired 
writers. The latter had ‘‘sought and searched diligently” 
to find the exact time and the character of the time to 
which the Spirit of Christ, who guided them, was pointing 
“when it testified beforehand the sufferings’’ which were 
appointed for Christ ‘‘and the glories that should follow 
them.” It was revealed to them that their predictions 
related to a future age, even that in which the readers 
of this epistle were living, one in which had taken place the 
events which were proclaimed in the gospel. This good 
news of salvation assured them that as they were now 
partakers of the sufferings of Christ, so too, they should be 
of his ‘‘glories,’’ which, predicted by prophets or proclaimed 
by apostles, were so great, so marvelous that the angels 
gazed upon them in eagerness and holy wonder. 


I Peter 1:13-21 SPECIAL PRIVILEGES 59 


3. EXHORTATIONS IN VIEW OF SPECIAL PRIVILEGES. Ch. 
1:13 to-.2:10 : 


a. The Exhortation to Holiness. Ch. 1 : 13-21 


13 Wherefore girding up the loins of your mind, be sober 
and set your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought 
unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as children of 
obedience, not fashioning yourselves according to your former 
lusts in the time of your ignorance: 15 but like as he who 
called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of 
living; 16 because it is written, Ye shall be holy; for I am 
holy. 17 And if ye call on him as Father, who without respect 
of persons judgeth according to each man’s work, pass the 
time of your sojourning in fear: 18 knowing that ye were 
redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, 
from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers; 
19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and 
without spot, even the blood of Christ: 20 who was fore- 
known indeed before the foundation of the world, but was 
manifested at the end of the times for your sake, 21 who 
through him are believers in God, that raised him from the 
dead, and gave him glory; so that your faith and hope might 
be in God. : 


Having given thanks to God for the wonderful salva- 
tion to be revealed in all fullness at the second coming of 
Christ, Peter now urges his readers to conduct which is in 
accord with their high privileges and glorious destiny. 
The three chief exhortations are to holiness, to love, and 
to growth. He introduces the first of these by suggesting 
the animating principle of hope. ‘Wherefore ; 
hope,”’ is the substance of the first verse of the paragraph; 
“be ye. . . holy,” is the sum of the verses which remain. 
‘Wherefore,’ that is, in view of the deliverance from dis- 
tresses and the heavenly inheritance which will be theirs 
when Christ appears; ‘“‘girding up the loins of your mind,”’ 
as an Oriental would prepare himself for special effort by 
gathering closely about him his loosely flowing robes, so 
the mind of the Christian must be unhampered by sinful, 


60 FIRST PETER I Peter 1: 13-21 


selfish, unbelieving thoughts; ‘‘be sober,” or ‘‘being sober,”’ 
that is ‘‘self-controlled,’’ guarding against all fanatical and 
foolish excitement, ‘‘set your hope perfectly on the grace 
that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus 
Christ.”” At this present day there is need of similar 
caution in connection with the blessed hope which centers 
in the return of Christ; first, there is still danger that the 
hope may be neglected because the mind is hampered by 
worldly, sinful distractions; second, there is danger lest 
it be associated with wild and fanatical vagaries; third, 
because of long delay and abundant discouragements, the 
hope grows faint, it is not “‘set . . . perfectly,” it does 
not continue until the end. 

Hope is mentioned, however, only as the motive to 
holiness. The latter is the supreme thought of the para- 
graph. This holiness is described negatively by a refer- 
ence to the former life of the readers, and positively by a 
reference to the holiness of God. ‘‘As children’’ who are 
such because of ‘‘obedience”’ to the divine call, and as those 
whose whole purpose of life is to obey, they are exhorted 
no longer to conform their acts and habits to the mode of 
life which, before they knew Christ, was molded by selfish 
and sinful desires. ‘‘But like as he who called you is holy, 
be ye yourselves also holy.”’ The root idea of holiness is 
that of “‘separation,”’ of dedication, particularly to the 
service of God; it came therefore to denote the moral 
character belonging to God himself. The mention of this 
as the standard for Christian living is inspiring. If God 
commands us to be holy we can rest assured that he is 
ready to give us needed grace, and even though in this 
present time we fail to attain the divine ideal, we are thus 
encouraged to believe that perfect holiness is to be ours 
when Christ appears; it is part of our “inheritance.” 

Two special reasons are assigned for obeying this com- 
mand: first, the fact that God is not only our Father but 
our Judge. He is loving, but he is also just, and can 
allow no sin in his children; therefore, we should spend the 
brief time of our “sojourning”’ here, before we go to his 
heavenly home, “‘in reverence and holy awe.’’ The second 
reason is the fact that our ransom from the power of sin 


1 Peter 1:22-25 SPECIAL PRIVILEGES 61 


has been secured at so great cost, ‘‘even the blood of 
Christ’’; it ever had been the divine purpose that he should 
be our Redeemer, and now after long ages of waiting he 
has appeared and finished his atoning work, has been raised 
from the dead, and has been exalted to the place of 
supreme power; through him we know God, on him our 
“faith and hope’ are based. 


b. Exhortation to Brotherly Love. Ch. 1 : 22-25 


22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience 
to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one 
another from the heart fervently: 23 having been begotten 
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through 
the word of God, which liveth and abideth. 24 For, 

All fiesh is as grass, 

And all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. 

The grass withereth, and the flower falleth: 

25 But the word of the Lord abideth for ever. 
And this is the word of good tidings which ~was preached 
unto you. 


The new life of holiness, made possible by the redemp- 
tion of Christ, is now made the basis of an exhortation to 
mutual love between believers. In fact such love is sug- 
gested as the very object and purpose of that purification 
of soul which results from obedience to the revealed will 
of God. ‘Seeing ye have purified your souls’; this proc- 
ess was begun when the truth concerning Christ was first 
accepted, it has been continued in ‘“‘obedience to the truth”’ 
and has its issue and goal in ‘“‘unfeigned love of the breth- 
ren’; therefore, develop, cultivate, manifest this affec- 
tion: “Icve one another from the heart fervently.” 

This love is natural, for Christians share a common life; 
all have one Father, and the spirit of sonship should be the 
spirit of brotherhood. This love should be abiding, for 
the new life from which it springs is eternal, it comes from 
“incorruptible seed,’’ communicated by means of the living 
message of salvation; for we have been ‘‘begotten again, 
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the 
word of God which liveth and abideth.”’ Mere natural, 
human love might wither and fade, but the affection of 


62 FIRST SPEER I Peter 2: 1-10 


those whose new life has come through accepting the 
changeless, deathless truths of the gospel, will flourish 
and never fail; ‘‘all flesh is as grass,. . . but the word of 
the Lord abideth for ever.” 

Such love was needed by those early Christians, amid 
the withering heat of persecution and pain; such love is 
needed to-day where sorrows cast their shadows and where 
the night of grief and doubt deepens; it is the fragrant ex- 
pression of the life of faith, it is the flower and the fruit 
of ‘“‘the good tidings’ concerning Christ. 


c. Exhortation to Growth as the People of God. Ch. 2: 1-10 


1 Putting away therefore all wickedness, and all guile, and 
hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, 2 as newborn 
babes, long for the spiritual milk which is without guile, that 
ye may grow thereby unto salvation; 3 if ye have tasted that 
the Lord is gracious: 4 unto whom coming, a living stone, 
rejected indeed of men, but with God elect, precious, 5 ye 
also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a 
holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to 
God through Jesus Christ. 6 Because it is contained in 
scripture, 

Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: 

And he that believeth on him shall not be put to shame. 
7 For you therefore that believe is the preciousness: but for 
such as disbelieve, 

The stone which the builders rejected, 

The same was made the head of the corner; 
8 and, 

A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence; 
for they stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto 
also they were appointed. 9 But ye are an elect race, a royal 
priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, 
that ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you 
out of darkness into his marvellous light: 10 who in time past 
were no people, but now are the people of God: who had not 
obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. 


Having reminded his readers of the new life com- 
municated to them through the gospel and by faith in 
Christ, Peter next urges them to secure such growth and 
development as will fit them for service as the people of 
God. The figures of speech are vivid and change with 


I Peter 2: 1-10 . SPECIAL PRIVILEGES 63 


bewildering rapidity; most of them are taken from the 
Old Testament, and together they form almost a mosaic of 
quotations. At first Christians are regarded as children, 
then as a temple, and then as a priesthood, and then as 
the true ‘Israel of God.” 

“As newborn babes, long for the spiritual milk . 
that ye may grow thereby.” The suggestion of spiritual 
infancy is not intended here as a rebuke, but rather as an 
encouragement to seek for the growth which all partakers 
of the new life need. Negatively, this growth will be 
secured by repressing all those motions and habits which 
belong to the old life of sin, particularly such as are 
opposed to the brotherly love in which the new birth has 
been shown to have its first and highest expression: 
“Putting away therefore all wickedness, and all guile, 
and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as new- 
born babes, long for the spiritual milk.’’? Thus, positively, 
the growth can be secured only as the soul receives spiritual 
food. The words ‘‘spiritual milk’? are often translated 
“milk of the word’’; and quite possibly the writer has in 
mind “‘the word of good tidings’’ to which he has previously 
referred as the means of the new birth. Surely the same 
means must be employed in nourishing the new life; and 
the main reason for the arrested development of modern 
Christians is found in their neglect of spiritual food, where- 
by, as Peter declares, we “‘may grow. . . unto salvation,” 
that is, unto that full moral maturity, that complete 
deliverance from sin, which will be realized at the coming 
of Christ. A longing for such food is the sure proof that 
we have been ‘‘born anew,”’ for if we “have tasted that the 
Lord is gracious,” these first experiences of the loveliness 
and goodness of Christ will make us yearn to drink more 
deeply of his exhaustless grace. 

Peter next refers to believers as forming a temple, 
although he unites this figure with that of a priesthood. 
As “living stones” they are united to Christ, the great 
Corner Stone who had been set at nought by men but 
afforded supreme honor by God; cemented to him by faith, 
and to their fellow Christians by love, they are being built 
into a glorious house for the indwelling of God, by his 


_ 


64 FIRST PETER I Peter 2: 1-10 


Spirit. As a priesthood they are to offer sacrifices of 
praise and prayer, of kindness and holiness and love, which 
will be acceptable to God because presented in the name of 
Jesus Christ. 

Of this spiritual temple the prophets had spoken; 
they had declared that Christ, as the Corner Stone, was 
chosen by God, and held in highest honor, and that those 
who trusted in him should not, as Peter suggests, ‘‘be put 
to shame.’’ The honor, the ‘‘preciousness,’’ belonged to 
believers, but for those who refused to believe on Christ 
there was only condemnation and loss. The exalted 
Christ is the touchstone of character; those who spurn his 
gospel of grace declare their own judgment: ‘‘The stone 
which the builders rejected, the same was made the head 
of the corner; and, a stone of stumbling, and a rock of 
offence.” 

In contrast with the fate of unbelieving Israel, Peter 
depicts the privileges of the Church, the true people of 
God: ‘But ye are an elect race,’ “chosen,” as was the 
Hebrew people, and a “‘race,’’ because possessing a common 
life resulting from the new birth; ‘‘a royal priesthood,”’ 
“royal’”’ as appointed by their King, royal as called to 
share his dignity and his glory, and “‘priests,’’ as offering 
spiritual sacrifices and interceding for men; ‘‘a holy na- 
tion,’’ a nation separated from others, consecrated unto 
God, and expected to manifest the moral nature and 
purity of God; ‘‘a people for God’s own possession,”’ that 
is, a people ‘‘acquired and possessed by him as a special 
and peculiar treasure.’’ Such boundless privileges imply 
great responsibilities: Christians are expected to show 
forth by life and word, ‘‘the excellencies,’’ the virtues, the 
goodness, the wisdom ‘of him who called” them, by his 
Spirit and providence, ‘‘out of darkness,” the ignorance 
and night of moral ignorance and unbelief, ‘‘into his 
marvelous light’? as revealed in his Son; in time past, 
whatever their nationality, they really ‘were no people, 
but now are the people of God’’; they “had not obtained 
mercy, but now have obtained mercy.’’ Thus the words 
spoken by Hosea of repentant Israel find their fulfillment 
in the redeemed, sanctified, beloved followers of Christ. 


T Peter 2211-12 “SPECIAL; RELATIONS 65 


4. EXHORTATIONS IN VIEW OF SPECIAL RELATIONS. Ch. 
ore ieto sass 1 1 


a. Sojourners. Ch. 2:11, 12 


11 Beloved, I beseech you as sojourners and pilgrims, to 
abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; 12 
having your behavior seemly among the Gentiles; that, 
wherein they speak against you as evil-doers, they may by 
your good works, which they behold, glorify God in the day 
of visitation. 


Here Peter begins a distinct division of his epistle. The 
first division consisted in a series of exhortations based 
upon the peculiar privileges described in his “salutation” 
and ‘“‘thanksgiving,’’ and summarized in the one great 
word “salvation.” The present series of exhortations 
enjoins upon his readers conduct becoming Christians in 
their various relations to the state, to the family, and 
particularly to the heathen society in the midst of which 
they were dwelling. The first of these exhortations is 
wide in its scope and refers to their whole course of life. 
In it they are addressed as ‘‘sojourners and pilgrims.”’ 
Neither of these words emphasizes the idea which we com- 
monly associate with “‘pilgrims,’’ namely, those who are 
journeying to a heavenly land, yet both emphasize a 
closely related truth. The first describes those who are 
in a foreign country, as ‘‘aliens’’; the other, those who are 
remaining in such a country for only a short time; thus 
both words remind us that “‘our citizenship is in heaven,”’ 
and our stay here is but brief. Accordingly we are urged 
to ‘abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the 
soul”; that is, we are not to adopt the evil customs of the 
people among whom we live or to endanger our spirits the 
life of which is not brief but immortal. The “lusts” of 
which we are warned do not refer merely to impure, bodily 
appetites, but to all wrong and selfish desires and im- 
pulses which threaten to take captive and to destroy the 
soul. 


66 FIRST PETER I Peter 2213017 


The special motive given for honorable and consistent 
conduct is the effect it might have upon the unbelievers 
among whom the readers were sojourning. Christians 
were being slandered as irreligious because not worshiping 
the heathen gods, as morose and ascetic because refraining 
from popular vices, as disloyal to the government because 
claiming allegiance to a heavenly King. Peter urges them 
to disprove such reports by their pure and noble lives, and 
so to conduct themselves that their very accusers might 
be won to the faith, and might thank God, in the day of 
Christ’s appearing, for the good deeds and saving influence 
of the Christian pilgrims who had sojourned among them. 


b. Citizens. Ch. 2.: 13-17 


13 Be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s 
sake: whether to the king, as supreme; 14 or unto governors, 
as sent by him for vengeance on evil-doers and for praise to 
them that do well. 15 For so is the will of God, that by weil- 
doing ye should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: 
16 as free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wicked- 
ness, but as bondservants of God. 17 Honorallmen. Love 
the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. 


While Christians are to regard themselves as citizens 
of heaven, yet they are to remember that, in a very real 
sense, they are now citizens upon earth; they are subject 
to human government, and are to show their fidelity to 
Christ by their loyalty to the State. Heavenly privileges 
and prospects are to make them not less faithful but rather 
more faithful to present obligations and duties. Thus, 
having addressed his readers as “pilgrims’’ and having 
given them a general exhortation to right conduct, Peter’s 
first specific command relates to the duties of Christian 
citizens. ‘They are urged to obey all the requirements and 
demands of civil rulers, and to do so as thereby pleasing 
and serving Christ: ‘“‘Be subject to every ordinance of 
man for the Lord’s sake.”’ These Christians were to obey 
“the king,’ by which was meant the emperor, probably 
Nero, and likewise his representatives, the ‘“governeors,” 
whose tasks consisted largely in punishing “evil-doers”’ 
and in protecting and rewarding those who did well. 


I Peter 2: 18-23 SPECIAL RELATIONS 67 


Peter declares such loyalty, even to such imperial mon- 
sters, to be the will of God, and the best way in which to 
silence the slanders which were current in reference to 
Christians. Of course, in a very true sense, followers of 
Christ are ‘“‘free’’; they are responsible to their Lord; 
they are not to obey the emperor if he asks them to act 
contrary to the will of their Lord; they also, at times, may 
be asked to judge whether a government is lawful and 
worthy of support; liberty, however, is not license; it 
is no excuse for disloyalty, sedition, or treason; Christians 
are not to use the word ‘“‘freedom”’ as ‘‘a cloak of wicked- 
ness’; even an imperfect government is better than 
anarchy; freedom is deserved and can rightly be enjoyed 
only by those who are “‘bondservants of God.”’ Such men 
will “honor all men.’”’ By this phrase Peter seems to 
indicate the observance of the proprieties of life in showing 
the respect demanded by custom to persons of various 
rank and position; yet the command includes a proper 
consideration of the sacred rights of all men, even the most 
weak and humble and obscure. 

“Love the brotherhood.’’ While all men must be 
treated with respect, we shouid show a peculiar affection 
and regard for those who are one with usin Christ. ‘Fear 
God. Honor the king.’’ A reverential awe is to be felt 
toward God; this is not inconsistent with devoted loyalty - 
to the king; in fact the purport of the whole paragraph 
shows that the most faithful servant of God will surely be 
the most patriotic supporter of the State. 


c. Servants. Ch. 2 : 18-25 


18 Servants, be in subjection to your masters with all 
fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. 
19 For this is acceptable, if for conscience toward God a man 
endureth griefs, suffering wrongfully. 20 For what glory 
is it, if, when ye sin, and are buffeted for it, ye shall take it 
patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye shall 
take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. 21 For hereunto 
were ye called: because Christ also suffered for you, leaving 
you an example, that ye should follow his steps: 22 who did 
no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23 who, when 
he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, threat- 


68 FIRST PETER I Peter 2:24, 25 


ened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth right- 
eously: 24 who his own self bare our sins in his body upon 
the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto 
righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed. 25 For 
ye were going astray like sheep; but are now returned unto 
the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. 


In urging upon his readers conduct becoming to Chris- 
tians in the various relations of life, Peter first emphasizes 
the duties of citizens to the State; he next dwells upon the 
relation of servants to their masters. He does not address 
them as slaves, the word employed by Paul, but as “‘house- 
hold servants,’’ a term which, in that day, included free 
men and women, even clerks and musicians and teachers 
and physicians; thus the passage applies to the attitude 
of all employees toward their employers and bears upon the » 
vexed modern problems of labor and capital. 

The one comprehensive exhortation is to submission: 
‘‘Servants, be in subjection to your masters with all fear.”’ 
This ‘‘subjection” however, is like that previously sug- 
gested toward kings and governors: it implies not only 
obedience but also loyalty; servants are not only to sub- 
mit but to be faithful and to advance the interests of their 
masters. The “fear” is not of punishment, but denotes 
anxious fidelity and deference under all circumstances, the 
desire to avoid all offense. As submission to a cruel 
tyrant like Nero was a special test of loyalty to the State, 
so the proof of faithfulnesss in servants was found in their 
obedience not only to masters who were kind and consider- 
ate, but also to the “froward,”’ the unreasonable, the cruel, 
and the unjust. It would be specially acceptable to God, 
if for his sake, because of obligation to him and strength- 
ened by the thought of his presence, they would endure 
patiently sufferings which were undeserved, blows and 
scourgings even when they had merited praise. 

Peter makes no reference here to “‘masters’”’ and their 
reciprocal duties, not so much because the larger number 
of his readers were servants as because he is dwelling in 
this section of his epistle upon the Christian graces of sub- 
mission and meekness. Of course masters are required 
to be gentle and just. The patient fidelity of their serv- 


I Peter 3: 1-3 SPECIAL RELATIONS 69 


ants only increases their own obligation to be reasonable, 
fair, and generous. Nor does this paragraph forbid 
employees to use all lawful means to secure their rights 
and to advance their interests. Here the exhortation is 
to patience under wrongs for which there is no remedy. 
Endurance of undeserved punishment, when there can 
be no redress, is here declared to be a ground of glorying 
and of praise. 

Christians are encouraged to such patient endurance 
by the example of their Lord. When they were summoned 
to follow him, such sufferings were involved in their call; 
they should expect them to be part of their experience. 
They should follow in his footsteps “who did no sin,’’ and 
yet suffered a cruel death. Peter specially calls to mind 
the uncomplaining meekness of Christ at the time of his 
trial and crucifixion, and declares that he was suffering 
innocently, but for our sakes: ‘‘Who his own self bare our 
sins in his body upon the tree.’”’ The language is descrip- 
tive of sacrifice; the death on the cross was atoning; 
Christ took upon him the dread consequences of our guilt; 
the emphasis, however, is laid upon the purpose of his 
death, which was not only that we might break with sin, 
once and for all, but very definitely that we ‘‘might live 
unto righteousness.”” ‘By whose stripes ye were healed.” 
The marks of the cruel scourge upon his quivering flesh 
were but signs of that suffering which for our sakes he 
endured, when submitting to the death of a slave. Surely 
servants, for his sake, should endure patiently the severest 
wrongs. To him they owed their salvation; like lost 
sheep they were wandering farther and farther from virtue 
and from God, but now they have been brought to find in 
Christ the Shepherd and the Guardian of their souls. 


d. Wives and Husbands. Ch. 3: 1-7 


1 In like manner, ye wives, be in subjection to your own 
husbands; that, even if any obey not the word, they may 
without the word be gained by the behavior of their wives; 
2 beholding your chaste behavior coupled with fear. 3 
Whose adorning let it not be the outward adorning of braiding 
the hair, and of wearing jewels of gold, or of putting on ap- 


70 FIRST PETER I Peter 3:4-7 


parel; 4 but let if be the hidden man of the heart, in the in- 
corruptible apparel of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in 
the sight of God of great price. 5 For after this manner 
aforetime the holy women also,who hoped in God, adorned 
themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands: 6 
as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose children 
ye now are, if ye do well, and are not put in fear by any terror. 

7 Ye husbands, in like manner, dwell with your wives 
according to knowledge, giving honor unto the woman, as 
unto the weaker vessel, as being also joint-heirs of the grace 
of life; to the end that your prayers be not hindered. 


As citizens were to be loyal to the state even under 
the reign of a Cesar, as servants were to obey masters who 
were cruel and unjust, so wives were to render loving 
obedience to their husbands even when the latter were not 
Christians: ‘In like manner, ye wives, be in subjection 
to your own husbands.”’ The exhortation is not popular 
at the present day; many are arguing that as despotism 
is not to be tolerated in government, nor slavery in society, 
so obedience to husbands is no longer necessary in the 
family. Of course no wife need feel compelled to act con- 
trary to conscience or duty; of course no personal inferior- 
ity is implied; of course there are sacred rights which none 
should dare invade; yet upon Christian wives there ever 
rests the obligation of patient submission to their husbands. 
The special reason here assigned is the possibility that un- 
believing husbands might be won for Christ by “the 
behavior of their wives.”” Even though they had rejected 
the gospel they might ‘“‘be gained’”’ without preaching, as 
they read sermons without words, written in the eloquent 
language of pure conduct and respectful demeanor, of 
“chaste behavior coupled with fear.”’ 

In married life admiration and affection can be retained 
not so much by extravagant adornment of the body as by 
the irresistible charm of spirit and disposition: ‘‘Whose 
adorning let it not be the outward adorning of braiding 
the hair, and of wearing jewels of gold, or of putting on 
apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in the 
incorruptible apparel of a meek and quiet spirit.””. This is 
no prohibition of jewelry or becoming costumes; it is a 
comparision between two forms of attractiveness. The 


I Peter 3: 1-7 SPECIAL RELATIONS 71 


apparel which wears best and is never out of style is 
the ‘meek and quiet spirit’? which never worries or 
causes worry; it is pleasing not only to men but also to 
God. 

As a model for Christian matrons, Peter cites the godly 
women of old whose chief charm consisted in their loyal 
devotion, who ‘‘adorned themselves, being in subjection to 
their own husbands’’; in particular, he mentions Sarah, 
whose attitude of respect and reverence was illustrated by 
a single term of address, she “obeyed Abraham, calling 
him lord.’”’ All who are like her in spirit are, in this 
sense, her ‘‘children,’’ just as all believers are children of 
Abraham, the ‘‘father of the faithful.” Obedience and 
submission, however, do not mean anxious fear, or con- 
tinual dread, or cowering terror; these are not attractive 
to men or pleasing to God; the wife is to be sure that her 
conduct is right and shaped with due regard to her hus- 
band, but she is not to be “‘put in fear by any terror.” 

Husbands, on the other hand, are not to presume upon 
their position or to forget their mutual obligations. 
“Obedience” on the part of a wife will involve nothing of 
humiliation or distress,if a husband is conducting himself 
as a Christian. While he recognizes in his wife certain 
natural limitations of strength, he will not regard this as 
an excuse for tyranny or injustice, but with true chivalry 
will find it an occasion for more tenderness and sympathy 
and reverence, “giving honor unto the woman, as unto the 
weaker vessel.’” Least of all will the submission of a wile 
imperil her happiness and highest good, when the husband 
remembers their absolute spiritual equality as joint heirs 
of the life eternal granted them by the grace of God.. 
One who realizes this grace will be humble in spirit; he 
cannot be inconsiderate or unkind; he will seek to show 
devoted love, to maintain that perfect human harmony 
and concord without which fellowship with God is impos- 
sible. The first and last words of the paragraph form a 
significant and striking rule for husbands: ‘‘Dwell with 
your wives . . . that your prayers be not hindered.”’ 


(PS FIRST PETER I Peter 3: 8-22 


e. Innocent Sufferers. Ch. 3 : 8-22 


8 Finally, be ye all likeminded, compassionate, loving as 
brethren, tenderhearted, humbleminded: 9 not rendering 
evil for evil, or reviling for reviling; but contrariwise blessing; 
for hereunto were ye called, that ye should inherit a blessing. 
10 For, 

He that would love life, 

And see good days, 

Let him refrain his tongue from evil, 

And his lips that they speak no guile: 

1: And let him turn away from evil, and do good; 

Let him seek peace, and pursue it. 

12 For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, 

And his ears unto their supplication: 

But the face of the Lord is upon them that do evil. 

13 And who is he that will harm you, if ye be zealous of 
that which is good? 14 But even if ye should suffer for right- 
eousness’ sake, blessed are ye: and fear not their fear, 
neither be troubled; 15 but sanctify in your hearts Christ 
as Lord: being ready always to give answer to every man that 
asketh you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, yet 
with meekness and fear: 16 having a good conscience; 
that, wherein ye are spoken against, they may be put to 
shame who revile your good manner of life in Christ. 17 For 
it is better, if the will of God should so will, that ye suffer for 
well-doing than for evil-doing. 18 Because Christ also suf- 
fered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he 
might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but 
made alive in the spirit; 19 in which also he went and preached 
unto the spirits in prison, 20 that aforetime were disobedient, 
when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, 
while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight 
souls, were saved through water: 21 which also after a true 
likeness doth now save you, even } baptism, not the putting 
away of the filth of the flesh, but the intex rrogation of a good 
conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus 
Christ; 22 who is on the right hand of God, having gone into 
heaven; angels and authorities and powers being made sub- 
ject unto him. 


Having given special instructions to citizens and serv- 
ants and wives, Peter speaks more broadly to all his 
readers as to their consistent conduct as Christians. In 
these more general exhortations the keynote is still the 


« 


I Peter 3:8-22 SPECIAL RELATIONS #3 


same; Peter continues to emphasize the duty of submis- 
sion, and to suggest that while there are other graces, and 
while life has much of happiness and blessing, still the fol- 
lowers of Christ will be like him in encountering many 
sufferings. But by faith in him they can endure patiently 
and will see that the final issue of their sufferings is en- 
larged usefulness and blessedness. 

“Finally,” writes the apostle, as if his words were 
reaching a climax, and as if he would‘turn from special 
classes to address all Christians, ‘‘be ye all likeminded,”’ 
one in sentiment, of ‘‘one accord’’; ‘‘compassionate,”’ 
sympathizing with the sorrows and also with the blessings 
of others; “loving as brethren,”’ that is, as belonging to the 
one family of Christian believers; ‘‘tenderhearted,”’ 
“humbleminded’”’; ‘‘not rendering evil for evil, or reviling 
for reviling; but contrariwise blessing; for hereunto were 
ye called, that ye should inherit a blessing.’’ Earlier in 
his letter Peter has suggested that we are ‘‘called’’ to 
unmerited sufferings; he is to emphasize that truth later 
in this paragraph; but he first reminds us that the issue 
will be blessing, and that we are as truly heirs of happiness 
as heirs of trial. Peter further reminds us that life is not 
all hardship, that one who is kind and humble and loving 
will usually have good days and will be able to secure peace, 
especially when he trusts God, who is a righteous God, 
neither unconscious of the needs of his people nor indiffer- 
ent to the sins of those that do evil. This truth Peter 
enforces by a quotation from the Thirty-fourth Psalm, 
which is in itself a hymn of comfort for those who suffer 
innocently. Peter suggests that, usually, those who are 
ardent lovers of good will not be molested; no one will 
wish to injure them: ‘And who is he that will harm you, 
if ye be zealous of that which is good?” 

Nevertheless, Christians need not be surprised at 
persecution; it may come, even to the most upright. 
When it comes it is to be regarded as a possible channel of 
blessing: ‘‘But even if ye should suffer for righteousness’ 
sake, blessed are ye: and fear not their fear,’’ do not be 
terrified by the threats of such enemies, ‘neither be 
troubled”; let the one object of your reverential fear, of 


» 


74 FIRST PETER I Peter 3: 8-22 


- your trust, of your love, be Christ: ‘“Sanctify in your 
hearts Christ as Lord.’”” As to your ehemies, be ready to 
meet them with intelligent replies; they may ridicule 
your beliefs and particularly your expectations of heavenly 
glory, but be ‘“‘ready always to give answer to every man 
that asketh you a reason concerning the hope that is in 
you, yet with meekness and fear.’’. Pride and conceit 
will weaken your defense of the Christian faith; spiritual 
realities are not capable of mathematical proof; you may 
be confident of your positions, yet you are not to answer 
your opponents with bitterness and pride. The best pos- 
sible reply to those who criticize your beliefs and malign 
your character will be given by a life of purity and sin- 
cerity and charity: “having a good conscience: that, 
wherein ye are spoken against, they may be put to shame 
who revile your good manner of life in Christ.” If 
persecution is allowed to come, it is better that it shall 
have no ground or justification in your unkind words or 
inconsistent deeds. 

Persecution and distress, however, cannot permanently 
injure or impair the helpful influence of innocent sufferers. 
The example of Christ is full of comfort and inspiration. 
His sufferings, even his death, only enlarged the sphere of 
his activity: for w:tile his body was in the tomb, he went 
and preached to the spirits in the underworld, and after 
his resurrection he ascended into heaven and was given the 
place of supreme power. Surely his sufferings were un- 
deserved: he “suffered for sins once, the righteous for the 
unrighteous”; the purpese was ‘‘that he might bring us 
to God”’; this great end was achieved, and we now have 
access through him to God. It could only be achieved by 
his death; but even while he continued under the power of 
death he went to the place of disembodied spirits, or to 
use the words of the Apostles’ Creed, “he descended into 
hell,” by which is meant, to a “place of detention,” of 
waiting for final judgment; he preached to ‘“‘the spirits 
in prison,” that had rejected the message of Noah in the 
days when the ark was being built. In the ark only eight 
souls escaped, saved by the very water which destroyed 
the impenitent and which purified the ancient world. So 


*) 


I Peter 3: 8-22 SPECIAL RELATIONS tir 


we believers are saved by the water of baptism, if by 
baptism we mean not a mere external rite but a spiritual 
cleansing which ends the old life of sin and begins a new 
life of holiness. Such salvation’ is communicated to us 
by the faith which is confessed at the time of baptism; 
it has been made possible through the resurrection of 
Christ, who gives new life to believers. Thus the un- 
merited sufferings of Christ resulted not only in his preach- 
ing to the imprisoned dead, but, as he rose from the dead, 
in giving eternal life to all who trust him; the further re- 
sult is again voiced by the Creed: ‘He ascended into 
heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father 
Almighty.” ; 

This whole passage which speaks of preaching to ‘‘the | 
spirits in prison ’’ is full of difficulty and mystery. Many 
interpretations have been attempted; they differ as to the 
time and place and substance and results of this preaching. 
A popular view is that which suggests that the preaching 
was done by Christ, in the person of the Holy Spirit, in 
the actual days of Noah, and not between the death and 
the resurrection of Christ as the words more naturally 
suggest. There is less danger of an incorrect exposition 
of the words than in the inferences based on the various 
interpretations. These words do not prove the existence 
of purgatory, or countenance the abuses connected with 
the belief in purgatorial sufferings. Nor do they support 
the theory of a “second chance’’ for all who die in im- 
penitence. Nor yet do they give ground for believing 
that all men will be saved whatever their earthly lives 
have been. The teachings about purgatory, and ‘‘second 
probation,’’ and universal salvation, are not sanctioned 
by Scripture; these are mere unwarranted inferences from 
statements which are full of mystery. Here it is not safe 
to go beyond what is written. The reference to ‘‘the 
spirits in prison” is but a parenthesis, an illustration. 
The main teaching of the passage is perfectly simple and 
plain. The purpose of the writer was not to awaken 
vague speculations, but to give practical encouragement. 
He assures us that innocent sufferers can sustain no 
abiding loss; if they are united with Christ, even death 


76 FIRST PETER I Peter 4: 1-6 


will be but gain. Their spirits will continue to live, they 
“depart” to ‘be with Christ’; “absent from the body”’ 
is to be “at home with the Lord.’’ Some day the dead 
will share his resurrection victory, and will enjoy in all its 
fullness his heavenly glory. 


f. Opposed by Sinners. Ch. 4 : 1-6 

1 Forasmuch then as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm ye 
yourselves also with the same mind; for he that hath suffered 
in the flesh hath ceased from sin; 2 that ye no longer should 
live the rest of your time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but 
to the will of God. 3 For the time past may suffice to have 
wrought the desire of the Gentiles, and to have walked in 
lasciviousness, lusts, winebibbings, revellings, carousings, 
and abominable idolatries: 4 wherein they think it strange 
that ye run not with them into the same excess of riot, speak- 
ing evil of you: 5 who shall give account to him that is ready 
to judge the living and the dead. 6 For unto this end was 
the gospel preached even to the dead, that they might be 
judged indeed according to men in the flesh, but live accord- 
ing to God in the spirit. - 


The subject of this paragraph is not new. Peter is still 
considering the unmerited sufferings to which his readers 
are compelled to submit; but here he emphasizes the 
evil character of their enemies and encourages his readers 
to fight against their former evil habits and the prevalent 
pagan vices. The memory of the sufferings of Christ 
and their blessed issue, of which Peter had just written, 
should strengthen believers for the conflict: ‘‘Foras- 
much then as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm ye your- 
selves also with the same mind.”’ As Christ suffered from 
the opposition of an evil world, his followers should be 
prepared for the same experience, especially by the thought 
of.the results of such suffering. These would be, in the 
case of Christians, moral purity and a definite break with 
sin; “for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from 
sin.” It is a general law of spiritual life that suffering 
purifies; there are exceptions to the rule: sometimes it 
hardens and embitters; but where it is endured for the 
sake of Christ and with the memories of what he endured 
and thereby achieved, it results in a perfecting of character. 


I Peter 4: 1-6 SPECIAL RELATIONS 77 


Of this general law, Peter here makes a special application. 
One whose sufferings have been caused by his opposition 
to sin, by his unwillingness to imitate sinners, has surely, 
in so far, ‘‘ceased from sin.’’ He is not free from the 
assaults of sin, but the consciousness of his experience, and 
the thought of Christ, will enable him to regard his very 
sufferings as badges of his fidelity, as proofs of his loyalty 
to his Master. He will be reminded that the lines have 
been definitely drawn and that he now: belongs to those 
who for the rest of their lives are not to be directed by 
the ‘‘lusts of men,” but by “‘the will of God.” 

We may be encouraged further to ‘arm’ ourselves 
against our sufferings and our temptations, when we re- 
member how large a portion of our time has already been 
spent in unholy living; as Peter says with solemn irony, it 
“may suffice,” or “it is quite enough.” Not all of his 
readers may have been guilty of the impurity and intem- 
perance and idolatry of which he speaks; yet even Jews 
did fall into these pagan practices and excesses; but what- 
ever the conduct had been before accepting Christ, the 
time remaining was all too brief for the service of the 
Master. 

Such a new life of holiness is sure to be the occasion of 
opposition, of misinterpretation, and of abuse; but the 
final judge is God; to him these sinful slanderers ‘‘shall 
give account’; by him those who are being persecuted for 
righteousness’ sake will be vindicated; from his judgment 
none can escape. It will extend to the dead as well as 
to the living. For this reason, that the judgment might 
be absolutely just, ‘“‘was the gospel preached even to the 
dead, that they might be judged indeed according to men 
in the flesh,” according to their works when on earth, 
and as already suffering the penalty of physical death, but 
might “‘live according to God in the spirit,” that is, might 
be pardoned and become heirs of eternal life. The 
reference here seems to be to the previous mysterious 
passage which spoke of the preaching to ‘the spirits in 
prison.’’ Both statements are obscure; the practical 
bearing is plain. Here the simple truth is emphasized 
that all men, without exception, are to be judged by God, 


78 FIRST PETER I Peter 4:7-14 


a truth intended to encourage those who are seeking to 
keep from sin, and to warn those by whom they are op- 
posed. 

g. Expecting the Coming of Christ. Ch. 4: 7-11 


7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore of 
sound mind, and be sober unto prayer: 8 above all things 
being fervent in your love among yourselves; for love cover- 
eth a multitude of sins: 9 using hospitality one to another 
without murmuring: 10 according as each hath received a 
gift, ministering it among yourselves, as good stewards of the 
manifold grace of God; 11 if any man speaketh, speaking 
as it were oracles of God; if any man ministereth, minstering 
as of the strength which God supplieth: that in all things God 
may be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose is the glory 
and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen. 


_ The return of our Lord has always furnished the supreme 
motive for consistent Christian living. Thus when Peter has 
given special exhortations to right conduct as citizens, serv- 
ants, wives, and innocent sufferers, he closes this section of 
his epistle with a series of general exhortations based on the 
hope of the coming of Christ: “‘But the end of all things 
is at hand: be ye therefore of sound mind, and be sober 
unto prayer.”’ To be “of sound mind” denotes ‘‘self- 
control’; this quality together with clearness and sobriety 
of mind, are urged in order that prayer may not be inter- 
rupted. It should be noted that a very different state of 
mind is too frequently associated with the expectation of 
the return of Christ. Fear, idle curiosity, restless excite- 
ment, neglect of duty, too commonly attend popular 
teaching concerning the second advent. This has been 
caused by false statements relative to the time of the ad- 
vent and by neglecting the consideration of events which 
are predicted as preceding the return of Christ. How soon 
these predictions may be fulfilled no one can tell. They 
may occur in any generation. Their consummation, in 
the appearing of Christ, is the supreme hope of the Church; 
but the expectation should inspire us to a faithful per- 
formance of duty in the State, in society, in the family, 
and in the Church. Christians should be self-controlled, 
sober, and prayerful. 


I Peter 4: 7-11 SPECIAL RELATIONS 79 


Further they should be “fervent in . . . love’? among 
themselves—this in view of the return of Christ—and such 
love should be ‘‘persevering’’ because it covers ‘‘a multi- 
tude of sins,’ which probably means that it covers the 
sins of others, is generous and forgiving. 

Two special manifestations of love are now mentioned: 
first, “‘hospitality’’ and secondly, the use of talents. In 
the early Church the grace of “hospitality’’ was much 
emphasized; it did not denote the entertainment of 
friends but the relief of travelers; as inns were rare and 
poor, as the extension of the Church depended upon the 
work of itinerant evangelists, the need of receiving stran- 
gers into their homes was apparent to all Christians; yet 
it did require love, it did offer occasions for imposition, for 
resentment, and for murmuring. 

Secondly, love was demanded in the use of special 
talents; these were to be regarded as trusts committed to 
Christians as stewards, to be used for the benefit of others 
and for which they were to render an account to their Lord. 
Thus if a man exercised the gift of public speech, he should 
do so not in such a way as to win praise for himself, but 
so as to help others, and he should speak as one who was 
uttering messages which were not his own but which had 
been given him by God.  So,, too, in caring for the poor, or 
sick, or needy, one should show no pride or patronage, but 
should humbly acknowledge that his ability for doing 
good had been entrusted to him by God. Thus Christians 
were in all things to seek not their own glory but the glory 
of God through Jesus Christ, to whom should be ascribed 
the glory and the dominion forever and ever. 


80 FIRST PETER I Peter 4: 12-19 


5. EXHORTATIONS IN VIEW OF SPECIAL TRIALS. 
(Cheeest 22 tome eit 


a. Exhortation to Steadfastness in Suffering. Ch. 4: 12-19 


12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial 
among you, which cometh upon you to prove you, as though a 
strange thing happened unto you: 13 but insomuch as ye are 
partakers of Christ’s sufferings, rejoice; that at the revela- 
tion of his glory also ye may rejoice with exceeding joy. 14 
If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are ye; 
because the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God resteth upon 
you. 15 For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, 
or an evil-doer, or as a meddler in other men’s matters: 
16 but if a man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; 
but let him glorify God in this name. 17 For the time is 
come for judgment to begin at the house of God: and if 
it begin first at us, what shall be the end of them that obey 
not the gospel of God? 18 And if the righteous is scarcely 
saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear? 19 
Wherefore let them also that suffer according to the will of 
God commit their souls in well-doing unto a faithful Creator. 


Here Peter begins the third series of the exhortations 
which compose the epistle. The first were in view of the 
special privileges his readers were enjoying, the second 
in view of their special relationsin the State and in society; 
these are given in view of the sufferings they are called to 
endure. All in the series are closely united, and partic- 
ularly by the mention of sufferings made in each of the two 
preceding divisions and only further emphasized in this 
last. In every case, too, the great incentive to steadfast 
endurance is found in the hope of the return of Christ, and 
in the deliverance and glory which he will bring. 

The sufferings are here described as a “‘fiery trial,’’ an 
ordeal, a trial by fire: ‘Beloved, think it not strange con- 
cerning the fiery trial among you.’”’ Christians should 
expect persecution and suffering; they should not be sur- 
prised by trials or regard them as something foreign to 
their lot; these trials were testing their faith and purifying 


I Peter 4: 12-19 SPECIAL TRIALS St 


their characters. If the Master was made to endure suf- 
ferings, it should not be regarded as strange that his serv- 
ants were compelled to endure the same; they should 
rejoice because, as they trusted him and were persecuted 
for his sake, they were really ‘‘partakers of Christ’s suffer- 
ings.’’ Such courage should be shown in order that when 
Christ appeared they might enjoy a truer rapture and 
exaltation: ‘‘that at the revelation of his glory also ye may 
rejoice with exceeding joy.”’ Fellowship in the sufferings 
of Christ is to be regarded confidently as an assurance of 
partnership in his glory: “If ye are reproached for the 
name of Christ, blessed are ye; because the Spirit of glory 
and the Spirit of God resteth upon you’”’; if, that is, you 
suffer for bearing the name of Christ, and for a life con- 
sistent with such a profession; for such a life is possible 
only by the power of his divine Spirit, and as this is also the 
“Spirit of glory,” his present manifestation is an assurance 
of the perfected glory you will enjoy at the appearing of 
Christ. On the other hand one must be certain that his 
sufferings are not deserved: ‘‘For let none of you suffer 
as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil-doer, or as a meddler 
in other men’s matters.” The last phrase is a peculiar 
one and may possibly mean ‘‘one who busies himself about 
matters not befitting a Christian.’’ ‘‘Butif aman suffer as 
a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify 
God in this name.” 

A second reason for steadfastness is found in the fact 
that these sufferings are to be viewed as an actual beginning 
of the judgment coming upon the world at the return of 
Christ; the “fiery trial’? was a herald of coming deliver- 
ance. Such the mold of prophecy has ever been; and as 
our Lord predicted, in the midst of a “great tribulation,”’ 
which develops out of these age-long trials and sufferings, 
when there is “‘distress of nations,’’ when ‘“‘the powers of 
the heavens shall be shaken, . . then shall they see the 
Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 
But when these things begin to come to pass, look up, and 
lift up your heads; because your redemption draweth 
nigh.”’ This seems to be the meaning of Peter in saying 
“For the time is come for judgment to begin at the house 


82 FIRST PETER I Peter 5: 1-4 


of God”, for the people of his household, for the very 
readers of this letter, sufferings have already begun. How- 
ever, if Christians now suffer, what then will be the fate of 
unbelievers; and “if the righteous,’’ the follower of 
Christ, “is scarcely saved,” that is, only after enduring 
such sufferings and tribulation, ‘“‘where shall the ungodly 
and sinner appear,” what will be their doom? ‘Therefore, 
in view of the sure deliverance which is coming “‘let them 
also that suffer according to the will of God commit their 
souls in well-doing unto a faithful Creator.’”’ Let us sub- 
mit to his will and seek to do his will, trusting that through 
all the mystery of suffering he cares for his own. 


b. Exhortation to Fidelity. Ch. 5 : 1-4 


1 The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a 
fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who 
am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: 2 
Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the 
oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the 
will of God; not yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; 
3 neither as lerding it over the charge allotted to you, but 
making yourselves ensamples to the flock. 4 And when the 
chief Shepherd shall be manifested, ye shall receive the crown 
of glory that fadeth not away. 


In times of trial the task of religious teachers is one of 
peculiar responsibility; a congregation in distress has 
special need of pastoral care. Thus, when Peter has urged 
his readers to steadfastness in suffering, he now turns to 
the officers of the Church to urge upon them faithfulness 
in the discharge of their duties. These officers are called 
‘elders,’ a name given at first to all who exercised rule 
and authority among the Christians; it is identical with 
the word ‘‘bishop”’ as in the next verse these officers are 
described as ‘‘exercising the oversight”’ or, literally, “doing 
the work of bishops”’; the word “‘elder’’ suggests the mature 
age which qualified one for the office; the word ‘‘bishop”’ 
indicates the duties of the office as being those of 
spiritual oversight; another identical term is ‘‘presbyter,”’ 
and the band of elders formed the “‘presbytery,”’ or Church 
court. Peter here describes himself as ‘‘a fellow-elder,”’ 


I Peter 5: 5-11 SEEGIAL TRIAGS 83 


to appeal to their affection; but to indicate his authority 
he declares that from personal observation he is one who 
bears testimony to the sufferings of Christ and who is to be 
“a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed’? when 
Christ returns. 

In his exhortation Peter indicates another title of these 
““elders’’ or “bishops,’’ namely, ‘‘pastors’’: ‘‘Tend the 
flock of God which is among you,” fill the office of spiritual 
shepherds, not as a mere matter of necessary, professional 
duty, but with a willing mind, as serving God, not like 
hirelings for the mere earning of the salary you are paid, but 
gladly and eagerly, not acting as lords and tyrants in the 
congregation entrusted to you, but making yourselves 
examples for the flock; your earthly recompense may be 
small, but when Christ, ‘‘the chief Shepherd”’ shall appear, 
then you “shall receive the crown of glory that fadeth not 
* away.” 

c. Exhortations to Humility, Trust, Vigilance, and Constancy. Ch.5:5-11 


5 Likewise, ye younger, be subject unto the elder. Yea, 
all of you gird yourselves with humility, to serve one another: 
for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. 
6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of 
God, that he may exalt you in due time; 7 casting all your 
anxiety upon him, because he careth for you. 8 Be sober, 
be watchful: your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, 
walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9 whom with- 
stand stedfast in your faith, knowing that the same sufferings 
are accomplished in your brethren who are in the world. 10 
And the God of all grace, who called you unto his eternal 
glory in Christ, after that ye have suffered a little while, shall 
himself perfect, establish, strengthen you. 11 To him be 
the dcminion for ever and ever. Amen. 


The word “‘elder’’ may denote either a Church officer or 
a man advanced in years. In the last paragraph it meant 
the former, here it possibly means the latter. Younger 
persons are urged to render respectful obedience to Church 
officers, or to Christians who possess the maturity and 
wisdom of age. In fact all Christians are urged to “‘gird 
themselves” with “humility,’’ probably as with the ‘‘garb 
of slaves,” to be ready to render to one another every pos- 


84 IRS TRePETER I Peter 5:5-11 


sible service, as the garment of humility is always an essen- 
tial equipment for wide helpfulness. Especially toward 
God is humility to be shown: ‘Humble yourselves . 
under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in 
due time’; it is in his mysterious providence that 
afflictions come, but his power also brings deliverance in 
his appointed time. We are to look to him in humble 
trust, casting the whole burden of our anxiety upon him, 
believing that he lovingly cares for us. 

“Casting all . . . anxiety upon him” does not relieve 
us, however, from the responsibility of being watchful 
against temptation. The Christian must be “sober” 
and ‘‘watchful” because his ‘“‘adversary the devil, as a roar- 
ing lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” 
This graphic figure of speech may indicate some of the 
peculiar temptations of the readers, the opposition of their 
adversaries, the false charges of their slanderers; but it 
also symbolizes the cruelty and the craft, the restless 
activity and terrifying threats, which ever characterize 
the foul Tempter, the enemy of our souls. We are en- 
couraged on two grounds to oppose this enemy, with stead- 
fast loyalty to Christ, with unshaken constancy of faith: 
first, because our trials and temptations are common to 
the whcle brotherhood of Christians, they are not peculiar 
to us, they are being courageously endured and resisted by 
countless others; and secondly, because God, the Author 
of all grace, who called us “unto his eternal glory in 
Christ,’ after the comparatively brief time of our distress, 
will himself make us perfect through our sufferings, will 
make us so firm in the faith that we shall be shaken by no 
alarms, will give us such spiritual strength that we shall 
never be overcome; all power is his, he will supply our 
every need: ‘“To him be the dominion for ever and ever. 
Amen.” 


I Peter 5: 12-14 THE CONCLUSION 85 


6. THE CONcLuSION. Ch. 5 : 12-14 
a. The Bearer and Purpose of the Letter. Ch. 5:12 


12 By Silvanus, our faithful brother, as I account him, I 
have written unto you briefly, exhorting, -and testifying that 
this is the true grace of God: stand ye fast therein. 


In his closing sentences, Peter first mentionsSilvanus, to 
whom he had dictated the letter, and by whom, possibly, it 
was being sent. He will be remembered by the name of 
“Silas” or ‘Silvanus,’ as the trusted companion whom Paul 
had chosen for his second great missionary journey; 
he has won the like confidence of Peter, and is here de- 
scribed as his ‘‘faithful’’ Christian ‘‘brother.”’ 

Peter next describes his letter as being very brief in 
comparison with all he should like to write, and as contain- 
ing not only serious exhortations, but aiso a solemn attes- 
tation that the faith held by his readers is ‘“‘the true grace 
of God’’; this grace should be shown in the conduct he has 
prescribed; in this faith he urges them to ‘‘stand. . . fast.’’ 


b. The Salutation and Benediction. Ch. 5:13, 14 


13 She that is in Babylon, elect together with you, saluteth 
you; and so doth Mark my son. 14 Salute one another with 
a kiss of love. 

Peace be unto you all that are in Christ. 


In the closing salutation the phrase, “she that is in 
Babylon,” has been the occasion of endless conjecture and 
discussion. It has been considered by many to be mystical 
and symbolical and to mean ‘‘the Church in Rome,” 
‘since Rome was regarded as like Babylon in its opposition 
to the people and the cause of God. The importance of 
the theory consists in the fact that it affords the only 
Scriptural support for the tradition that Peter visited 
Rome, and wrote this epistle from that imperial city. 
That ‘“‘Babylon”’ is used figuratively is, however, a mere 
conjecture and never has been proved. With this saluta- 


86 FIRST PETER I Peter 5: 12-14 


tion Peter adds another from Mark, the early companion 
of Paul and Barnabas, the author of the Second Gospel; 
he is affectionately called a ‘“‘son,”’ a spiritual child of 
Peter, by whom probably he had been brought to Christ. 

After urging the members of the Church to greet one 
another with the kiss of charity to signify their brotherly 
love, Peter closes his epistle with the prayer and benedic- 
tion; ‘Peace be unto you all that are in Christ.” 


SECOND EPISTLE OF PETER 87 


THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
PETER 


While serious doubt has been felt as to the authorship 
of this epistle, it is most probable that it should be assigned 
to the apostle whose name it bears. He was now far 
advanced in years. Long before, when the risen Lord met 
his disciples in the morning twilight by the sea, he pre- 
dicted that Peter, when old, would endure martyrdom 
for the sake of his Master whom he was bidden to follow 
not only in service but in suffering. The day of supreme 
testing was at hand, as he penned this epistle. “The 
putting off of my tabernacle cometh swiftly,” he writes, 
“even as our Lord Jesus Christ signified unto me.” How- 
ever he sounds no note of despondency, fear, or gloom; his 
message, like that of his First Epistle, is radiant with hope. 
His thought is centered upon the coming of Christ; he 
still rejoices to think of the time ‘“‘when the chief Shepherd 
shall be manifested’’ from whom he would receive ‘“‘the 
crown of glory that fadeth not away.’’ Something of the 
splendor of that crowning day he now declares was wit- 
nessed by him on the holy mount, when he saw the trans- 
figured Christ; long years have passed, but the vivid 
memory of that ‘“‘Majestic Glory”’ is set forth as a ground 
of his present, triumphant faith. The writer further 
declares of himself that he has written a previous epistle 
of a somewhat similar character; that he is on intimate 
terms with Paul, whom he calls ‘our beloved brother,” 
and with whose letters he declares himself familiar. Surely 
it is idle to conjecture who this writer may have been if 
he was not Peter the apostle, whom its references so defi- 
nitely depict. ) 

The readers, then, would be the same as those of the 
previous epistle, the Christian converts scattered through- 
out various provinces of what is now known as Asia Minor.. 
Their condition, however, is now different, or their cir- 


88 SECOND EPISTLE OF PETER 


cumstances are somewhat altered. The particular perils 
by which they are threatened are not from without but 
from within the churches. Their dangers are not from the 
persecutions of Jews and pagans, but from the pernicious 
influences of professed Christians, ‘‘false teachers’? who 
have appeared, who are increasing in number, who deny 
the Lord not only by their doctrines but by their impure 
and unholy lives. The truth which they attack particu- 
larly is that of the return of Christ, and their conduct 
corresponds with their unbelief; because of his long delay 
they mock at ‘‘the promise of his coming,”’ “‘walking after 
their own lusts.”’ 

To warn against such errors in teaching and to exhort to 
holiness in living, this epistle was written. Its supreme 
word is ‘‘knowledge.’’ As the source is in God, as the 
chief object is Christ, as it is associated with ‘grace,’ 
this ‘‘knowledge”’ is not merely a mental but also a spirit- 
ual attainment. It can be increased by the practice of 
Christian virtues, and the readers are urged to “‘grow in the 
grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ.”” The special truth, however, with which this 
“knowledge’”’ is here concerned is that which the false 
teachers deny, namely, the return of Christ. This truth is 
shown to be attested both by the transfiguration glory of 
Christ and the word of inspired prophecy; the punish- 
ment of the false teachers is set forth and their character 
definitely described; the certainty of the coming of Christ 
and its attendant judgments are affirmed; and the plea 
is made for such conduct and character on the part of 
believers as may be worthy of their faith and hope. 

It may be helpful to suggest for the three chapters of 
this epistle the following outline: 


1. The Knowledge of Christ. II Peter, ch. 1. 
a. The Salutation: The Gift of Knowledge. Ch. 1 : 1-4. 


b. The Exhortation: The Growth of Knowledge. Ch. 
Le. O-113 


c. The Promise: The Grounds of Knowledge. Ch, 
Lierk2- 213 


SECOND EPISTLE OF PETER 89 


2. The Teachers of Error. Ch. 2. 
a. Their Punishment. Ch. 2 : 1-9. 
b. Their Character and Conduct. Ch. 2 : 10-16. 
c. Their Evil Influence. Ch. 2 : 17-22. 


3. The Coming of Christ. Ch. 3. 


dane Gértainty..1 Chasis 1-7; 
b. The Time and Circumstances. Ch. 3 : 8-13. 
c. The Consequent Exhortations. Ch. 3: 14-18. 


90 SECOND PETER II Peter 1: 1-4. 


1. THE KNOWLEDGE oF CurIsT. II Peter, ch. 1 
a. The Salutation: The Gift of Knowledge. Ch. 1: 1-4 


1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to 
them that have obtained a like precious faith with us in the 
righteousness of our God and the Saviour Jesus Christ: 2 
Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God 
and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that his divine power hath 
granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, 
through the knowledge of him that called us by his own glory 
and virtue; 4 whereby he hath granted unto us his precious 
and exceeding great promises; that through these ye may 
become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from 
the corruption that is in the world by lust. j 


It is possible that as Peter calls himself ‘‘Simon’”’ he may 
have had in mind the early days before he met Jesus, when 
that was his familiar name. It isalso possible that, as he 
calls himself an ‘‘apostle,’’ he may have wished to suggest 
his authority as a man specially commissioned by his Lord, 
and also, that, as he calls himself ‘‘a bondservant 
of Jesus Christ,” he may have wished thus to place him- 
self upon an equality with his readers. This last purpose 
was surely accomplished by the beautiful phrase in which 
these readers are addressed. Here he not only appeals 
to their sympathy by a touch of tactful courtesy, but he 
gives a message to Christians of all times by a stroke of 
spiritual insight. He writes ‘to them that have obtained a 
like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God 
and the Saviour Jesus Christ.’ That is, faith gives 
exactly the same spiritual privileges to all, whether the 
most famous of apostles or the most obscure of believers; 
this faith is ‘obtained by lot”’ or given by the grace and 
~ mercy of God, without any desert or merit of man; it 
brings with it equal privileges because of the absolute 
justice or “righteousness of our God and the Saviour 
Jesus Christ.” 

The salutation, ‘‘Grace to you and peace be multiplied,” 
is quite familiar in form, but it is connected with a unique 
phrase and one which sounds the keynote of the epistle: 


II Peter 1: 5-7 KNOWLEDGE 91 


“in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.’”’ This 
“knowledge’’ is the channel of ‘‘grace,”’ it is the ground of 
‘“‘peace,”’ it is the means of salvation, it is the instrument of 
all blessings. Peter writes to remind Christians of the 
content of this knowledge, to warn them of apostate teach- 
ers who are opposing it in the interests of a false ‘“knowl- 
edge,’”’ to encourage them to value and to develop this true 
knowledge of God and of Christ. Peter is therefore pray- 
ing that ‘‘grace,’’ the divine source of all blessings, and 
‘“‘peace,”” the deepest experience of the soul, may be in- 
creased, by and in this knowledge; and he prays with con- 
fidence, knowing that, or “‘seeing that,’’ the ‘divine power’”’ 
of God “hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto 
life and godliness,’ through this knowledge, which is here 
defined as a knowledge of Christ ‘‘that called us by his 
own glory and virtue.’’ All that we need for the nurture 
of spiritual life and for the development of godliness has 
been given to us in our knowledge of Christ who has at- 
tracted us to be his followers by the manifestation of his 
own moral excellence and goodness. These excellences 
of their Lord awake in believers a hope of attaining to his 
likeness, they assure them of the certain enjoyment of all 
the pardon and peace and future blessedness of which the 
Saviour has spoken, even “his precious and exceeding 
great promises,” including his glorious return to which 
this epistle continually refers. It is the purpose of God 
that, through a knowledge of these promises and by 
cherishing them in faith, we may not only escape the 
moral corruption and decay which pervade the world 
because of evil desires and preverted passions, but that 
also we may attain to his likeness, developing more and 
more of his holiness and purity and love, being ‘‘trans- 
formed’”’ into his image by the power of his indwelling 
Spirit. 
b. The Exhortation: The Growth of Knowledge. Ch. 1: 5-11 

5 Yea, and for this very cause adding on your part all 
diligence, in your faith supply virtue; and in your virtue 
knowledge; 6 and in your knowledge self-control; and in. 
your self-control patience; and in your patience godliness; 
7 and in your godliness brotherly kindness; and in your 


92 SECOND PETER It Peter. 178-11 


brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and 
abound, they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful unto the 
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he that lacketh 
these things is blind, seeing only what is near, having for- 
gotten the cleansing from his old sins. 10 Wherefore, breth- 
ren, give the more diligence to make your calling and election 
sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never stumble: 11 
for thus shall be richly supplied unto you the entrance into 
the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 


In view of the faith which God has graciously given, in 
view of the knowledge of Christ which they possess, in 
view of the fact that they are ‘“‘partakers of the divine 
nature,’ the readers are now urged to strive for such 
growth in Christian virtues, for such a development of 
spiritual graces, that their knowledge and faith shall be 
“not idle nor unfruitful.” The suggestion seems to be 
that knowledge will thus be increased, that knowing will 
come by doing; that the condition of receiving more light 
is a faithful use of the light one has; that strenuous 
exercise of Christian graces results in a fuller comprehen- 
sion of spiritual truth. 

In the beautiful list of graces which Peter here exhibits, 
each grace apparently grows out of the preceding grace, 
and in turn becomes the soil or atmosphere in which the 
next is nourished, while all are rooted in ‘‘faith.’”’ Never- 
theless, the growth is not spontaneous; on our part there 
is demanded the expenditure of toil and effort. God has 
granted us the new life; but like a divine germ it needs to 
be developed by the earnest care which we are to ‘‘bring 
in by the side of” the divine gift; we are to add on our 
part ‘‘all diligence’; progress in Christian living is made 
only by coédperation of the human will with the divine. 

“In your faith supply virtue’; this is not the same as 
“add to your faith virtue’; but, as above suggested, 
“with and by your faith supply virtue’; ‘‘faith’”’ is the 
source and gives the power by which ‘virtue’ is to be 
developed; ‘‘faith without works is dead,’ but it shows 
itself to be living and real when it produces ‘‘moral 
excellence’; real trust in Christ and true belief in him will 
always issue in right conduct, or ‘‘virtue.”’ 


Lf 


II Peter 1: 5-11 KNOWLEDGE 93 


So “virtue’’ in turn is to develop ‘‘knowledge,” which 
here means “practical skill in the details of Christian 
duty” rather than the knowledge of God and of Christ 
which in the previous section were used very much in the 
sense of ‘faith.’ ‘And in your knowledge [supply] self- 
control,’ according to which, in all the experiences of life, 
reason governs passion; ‘‘and in your self-control pa- 
tience,”’ or “endurance,” for while ‘“‘self-control’’ enables 
one to curb his desires, patience gives him power stead- 
fastly to endure evils which press upon him from without; 
“and in your patience godliness,’’ which characterizes the 
life of one who continually lives ‘‘as seeing him who is 
invisible’; ‘‘and in your godliness brotherly kindness,” 
or affection for fellow Christians, ‘‘and in your brotherly 
kindness love’’ for Christ and the whole world. The rela- 
tion of these seven virtues has been thus stated: ‘‘Faith 
is the gift of God already received; to this must be added 
(1) moral strength which enables a man to do what he 
knows to be right; (2) spiritual discernment; (3) self- 
control by which a man resists temptation; (4) endurance 
by which he bears up under persecution or adversity; 
(5) right feeling and behavior toward God, and (6) 
toward the brethren, and (7) toward all.”’ 

To the patient development of these virtues we are 
encouraged by the assurance, which forms the main 
burden of this paragraph, that where these are possessed 
and are increasing, there one is not idle or unfruitful in 
the attainment of knowledge; a diligent practice of 
Christian virtues always increases spiritual insight. On 
the other hand their absence or neglect produces, or con- 
stitutes, spiritual blindness or nearsightedness: ‘‘For he 
that lacketh these things is blind, seeing only what is 
near.’ It is true that the reason why things unseen 
and eternal seem to us so unreal is that we are making so 
little effort toward moral and spiritual progress. This 
lack of spiritual perception may extend so far that one 
may forget ‘“‘the cleansing from his old sins,’’ may actually 
become oblivious of the pardon and cleansing in which 
his Christian life began, and of all that God has done 
for him. 


o4 SECOND PETER __ II Peter 1: 12-21 


‘Wherefore, brethren,”’ in view of the possible increase 
and the possible loss of “knowledge,” and so of the ‘‘salva- 
tion”’ it involves, ‘‘give the more diligence to make your 
calling and election sure.’”’ The divine choice and call 
do not make human effort unnecessary. If, however, the 
Christian graces are being developed, and knowledge is 
enlarging, ‘‘If ye do these things, ye shall never stumble.” 
This does not mean that the Christian will never sin, but 
that such patient effort toward progress will safeguard him 
against faults and failings, and will assure the completion 
of his journey to the heavenly city; he will indeed be richly 
provided for ‘‘the entrance into the eternal kingdom of 
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” 


c. The Promise: The Grounds of Knowledge. Ch. 1 : 12-21 


12 Wherefore I shall be ready always to put you in remem- 
brance of these things, though ye know them, and are estab- 
lished in the truth which is with you. 13 And I think it right, 
as long as I am in this. tabernacle, to stir you up by by put- 
ting you in remembrance; 14 knowing that the putting off of 
my tabernacle cometh swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ 
signified unto me. 15 Yea, I will give diligence that at every 
time ye may be able after my decease to call these things to 
remembrance. 16 For we did not follow cunningly devised 
fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his 
majesty. 17 For he received from God the Father honor 
and glory, when there was borne such a voice to him by the 
Majestic Glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well 
pleased: 18 and this voice we ourselves heard borne out of 
heaven, when we were with him in the holy mount. 19 And 
we have the word of prophecy made more sure; whereunto 
ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a lamp shining in a dark 
place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your 
hearts: 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture 
is of private interpretation. 21 For no prophecy ever came 
by the will of man: but men spake from God, being moved by 
the Holy Spirit. 

Peter, in opening his epistle, has shown that in the 
knowledge of Christ has been given all that is needed for 
“life and godliness’; he has urged an increase of this 
knowledge by the development of Christian virtues that 


II Peter 1: 12-21 © KNOWLEDGE , 95 


so may be provided an entrance into the heavenly King- 
dom; he now promises to aid his readers to keep these 
truths in mind and assures them that their knowledge is 
well supported by the testimony of inspired apostles and 
prophets. 

Thus he does not propose to teach new truths, but de- 
clares that he will ‘be ready always’”’ to put his readers in 
remembrance of the truth in which they are already estab- 
lished. He regards this as his duty and more especially 
because his own death is approaching, or, as he says 
“the putting off of my tabernacle cometh swiftly’; his 
body is like a tent which his spirit is soon to leave. He is 
sure of this because he is now far advanced in years, and 
his Lord had told him that, when old, he should die a 
martyr’s death. Here Peter even promises to make pro- 
vision that after his death his readers shall be able ‘‘to call 
these things to remembrance’; just how he proposed to 
fulfill this promise he does not say—probably by writing 
other letters; but some have conjectured that he meant 
to appoint teachers, or even that he referred to the Gospel 
of Mark, which is thought to have been written under his 
direction. 

The climax and inspiring center of all the truth Peter so 
prized concerned the personal, visible return of Christ. 
This was the great motive for holy living to which he con- 
stantly appealed in his First Epistle; this was the doctrine 
ridiculed and opposed by the false teachers whom this 
Second Epistle was written to rebuke. Peter declares 
that, in his statements concerning the divine power and 
future coming of Christ, he and his fellow apostles did 
“not follow cunningly devised fables,’’ but they spoke as 
men who, with their own eyes, had seen the ‘majesty,’ 
the radiant splendor, the heavenly glory, in which Christ 
would reappear. This vision was granted to them on the 
Mount of Transfiguration when Jesus “received from 
God the Father honor and glory, when there was borne 
such a voice to him by the Majestic Glory, [that is, by 
God himself], This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well 
pleased.” This transfiguration scene was a foregleam, a 
part, a manifestation, and so a proof, of the majesty and 


5 


96 SECOND PETER II Peter 1: 12-21 


splendor in which Christ would appear when he returned 
in his own glory and that of the Father and that of the 
holy angels. This experience confirmed the word of the 
prophets; it has made it an even firmer ground of con- 
fidence; previously the assurance came by faith, but now 
that in the transfiguration there has been granted a speci- 
men of the coming glory, sight has made assurance doubly 
sure: ‘‘We have the word of prophecy made more sure; 
whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a lamp 
shining in a dark place.’ In this dusk and dimly lighted 
world, in all its mystery of confusing events, prophecy 
shines forth as a lamp, the only lamp we have to guide us. 
We must give heed to it “until the day dawn, and the day- 
star arise.’ Thus (according to Tregelles, Schott, and. 
others) it may be best to punctuate this last clause: “‘Ye 
do well that ye take heed, in your hearts, until the day 
dawn’’; that is while the shadows hang so heavily upon the 
present world you do well to take earnest heed to the light 
of prophecy, until at last the Lord returns and the shadows 
flee away. If, however, we accept the usual punctuation, 
the meaning may be that we should take heed of prophecy 
and ponder its statements, until in our hearts there dawns 
a bright and confident expectation of the coming of Christ. 

To such earnest heed of prophecy we are specially en- 
couraged by the consideration that ‘‘no prophecy of 
scripture is of private interpretation,’ or, probably ‘‘of 
private origination,’ that is, it does not come from the 
prophets’ own interpretation of the future; “for no proph- 
ecy’ as Peter adds, “‘ever came by the will of man: but 
men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit.”’ 
Therefore, upon the testimony of apostles who were eye- 
witnesses, upon the words of prophets who were divinely 
inspired, rest our saving knowledge of Christ and our hope 
of his glorious return. 


II Peter 2:1-9 TEACHERS OF ERROR 97 


2. THE TEACHERS OF ERROR. Ch. 2 
a. Their Punishment. Ch. 2: 1-9 — 


1 But there arose false prophets also among the people, as 
among you also there shall be false teachers, who shall 
privily bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master 
that bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 
2 And many shall follow their lascivious doings; by reason 
of whom the way of the truth shall be evil spoken of. 3 
And in covetousness shall they with feigned words make 
merchandise of you: whose sentence now from of old lin- 
gereth not, and their destruction slumbereth not. 4 For if 
God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down 
to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be re- 
served unto judgment; 5 and spared not the ancient world, 
but preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of right- 
eousness, when he brought a flood upon the world of the un- 
godly; 6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into 
ashes condemned them with an overthrow, having made 
them an example unto those that should live ungodly; 7 and 
delivered righteous Lot, sore distressed by the lascivious 
life of the wicked 8 (for that righteous man dwelling among 
them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from 
day to day with their lawless deeds): 9 the Lord knoweth 
how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to keep the 
unrighteous under punishment unto the day of judgment. 


Peter had just assured his readers that inspired prophets, 
in their teaching, had given them a lamp which they should 
cherish and use in the prevailing darkness, until the Lord 
return. He now reminds them that of old there were 
“false prophets” as well as true, and that, similarly, in 
the Christian Church there are ‘“‘false teachers” as well as 
inspired apostles, and that such teachers will appear in 
all ages until Christ reappears. The mention of these 
teachers brings Peter to the very heart of his epistle, which 
is mainly designed to warn his readers against these 
authors of destructive heresies and to defend the truth 
concerning the return of Christ, which, in particular, was 


being denied. 


98 SECOND PETER IT Peten,2: 1-9 


As the chapter opens Peter declares that these false 
leaders are doomed to certain punishment; they are 
“bringing upon themselves swift destruction;’” their sen- 
tence “from of old lingereth not, and their destruction 
slumbereth not,’’ it had been predicted in other days, of 
similar men, and it is no dead letter. but soon will be exe- 
cuted upon them. Their conduct is described as ‘‘denying 
even the Master that bought them,” as by their impure 
lives and their corruption of his teachings they actually 
disclaimed and renounced the Lord and Master who had 
died for them. Asa result of their influence ‘‘many shall 
follow their lascivious doings; by reason of whom the 
way of the truth shall be evil spoken of,’’ while the teachers 
enrich themselves by the money they extort from their 
victims. 

Thus the first four verses describe the doom, the conduct 
and the influence of these men, and so outline and summa- 
rize the whole chapter. This chapter, it will be remem- 
bered, is closely paralleled by the Epistle of Jude. The 
supposition is that one writer borrowed from the other or 
both fromacommon source. It should be noted, however, 
that when Jude gives examples of the certain punishment 
of the wicked he makes no mention of the deliverance of 
the righteous. Peter, however, uses three illustrations of 
certain doom, but in two of these he lays great stress upon 
the fact that ‘the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly: 
out of temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under 
punishment unto the day of judgment.” Of these ex- 
amples of punishment the first is that of the fallen angels; 
the nature of their sin is not mentioned, but it is elsewhere 
suggested as having been caused by pride. The second is 
that of the world before the flood, the special feature of 
which was disobedience to God. ‘The third is that of the 
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; the guilt of these 
cities was that of moral impurity. Thus Peter pictures 
the certain punishment of the false teachers, but he also 
paints their character, and intimates their pride, rebellion, 
and sensuality. He also intimates, however, that even 
though the righteous are few in number, as Noah and his 
family, or as Lot in lawless Sodom, God is certain to 


II Peter 2: 10-16 TEACHERS OF ERROR 99 


deliver those who trust and serve him. His words are 
designed to comfort and encourage believers in the darkest 
days of heresy and ialse teaching and impending judg- 
ments: “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out 
of temptation.” 


b. Their Character and Conduct. Ch. 2 : 10-16 


10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of 
defilement, and despise dominion. Daring, self-willed, 
they tremble not to rail at dignities: 11 whereas angels, 
though greater in might and power, bring not a railing judg- 
ment against them before the Lord. 12 But these, as crea- 
tures without reason, born mere animals to be taken and 
destroyed, railing in matters whereof they are ignorant, shall 
in their destroying surely be destroyed, 13 suffering wrong 
as the hire of wrong-doing; men that count it pleasure to 
revel in the day-time, spots and blemishes, revelling in their 
deceivings while they feast with you; 14 having eyes full 
of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; enticing unsted- 
fast souls; having a heart exercised in covetousness; chil- 
dren of cursing; 15 forsaking the right way, they went astray, 
having followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who 
loved the hire of wrong-doing; 16 but he was rebuked for 
his own transgression: a dumb ass spake with man’s voice 
and stayed the madness of the prophet. 


Peter has already announced the doom and briefly 
designated the teachers of error who were corrupting the 
Christian Church; he now paints their character and 
conduct in vivid and forbidding colors. The two para- 
graphs are inseparably interwoven, the description of 
punishment and of sin. Thus when he mentions “‘chiefly 
them that walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement,”’ 
he means that they, more obviously than other sinners, are 
kept under the judgment of God, and he specifies their 
character as walking “‘after the flesh,’ making lust their 
law, and further, he states, they ‘‘despise dominion,” 
looking with contempt upon the power and majesty of the 
Lord. Naturally therefore, ‘‘daring, self-willed, they 
tremble not to rail at dignities,’’ but treat with abuse the 
lawful rulers of the Church. Such daring presumption is 
rebuked by the example of angels who refrain from insult- 


100 SECOND: PETER I} Peter 2317-22 


ing and condemning beings less powerful than themselves. 
These teachers are like ‘‘animals,’’ without reason, mere 
brute beasts making a pretense of knowledge, and they 
are certain to be punished for their wrongdoing, as they 
deserve. Their idea of pleasure is wanton living, in open 
daylight. They are ‘‘spots and blemishes” in the Church 
which should be pure and holy. Their eyes betray their 
adulterous thoughts, never satisfied with sin. They allure 
and corrupt unsteady, unstable, ‘‘unstedfast souls.’’ 
“Children of cursing’? that they are, they have left the 
straight path, wandering away from it by following the 
way of Balaam; he, like these false teachers, “loved 
the hire of wrong-doing’’; he wished the gold Balak offered 
and desired to curse Israel contrary to God’s command; 
he was “rebuked”’ for his breach of law, when his dumb 
ass, acting contrary to law of another kind, spoke with 
human voice and resisted the mad infatuation of the 
prophet. 

Like Balaam of old, men who try to serve God and gold, 
and false teachers, such as Peter describes, who hide their 
covetousness and impurity under the cloak of Christian 
profession, are doomed to moral blindness, to disappoint- 
ment, to disgrace, and to death. 


c. Their Evil Influence. Ch. 2 : 17-22 


17 These are springs without water, and mists driven by . 
a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness hath been re- 
served. 18 For, uttering great swelling words of vanity, 
they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by lasciviousness, those 
who are just escaping from them that live in error; 19 promis- 
ing them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of 
corruption; for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he 
also brought into bondage. 20 For if, after they have es- 
caped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of 
the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled 
therein and overcome, the last state is become worse with 
them than the first. 21 For it were better for them not to 
have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, 
to turn back from the holy commandment delivered unto 
them. 22 It has happened unto them according to the true 
proverb, The dog turning to his own vomit again, and the 
sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire. 


II Peter 2: 17-22. COMING OF CHRIST 101 


The most distressing feature in the picture of the teach- 
ers of error whom Peter is denouncing in this present 
chapter is that of their influence upon the members of the 
Church. The pitiful fact is that such men secure a follow- 
ing; they know enough of truth,and can employ sufficient 
pious phrases,to beguile and entrap weak and unsuspecting 
souls. They profess to be sources of spiritual help; how 
different they are, in reality! ‘““These are springs without 
water’; what a disappointment to those who are thirsting! 
These are ‘‘mists driven by a storm’’; mists might supply 
some moisture, or protect from the burning sun, but when 
driven by the wind, as these teachers by their passions, 
they can only blind and distress. 

In contrast with all their boastful pretense, ‘uttering 
great swelling words of vanity,’ they lead astray, by 
offers of sensual indulgence, those who are just escaping 
from sinful companions and practices. They teach that as 
a Christian is ‘free from the law’’ he can live in license, and 
can show his liberty by indulging in sin. The fact is that 
such teachers are themselves the slaves of sin, while they 
are promising freedom to others; ‘“‘for a man is the slave 
of whatever overpowers him.”’ Most pitiful of all is the 
case of those who are misled, and who under such in- 
fluences renounce their allegiance to Christ: ‘‘For if after 
they have escaped the defilements of the world through 
the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they 
are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state 
is become worse with them than the first.” In these and 
the closing words of the chapter a solemn warning is 
sounded both for the teachers of error and their followers. 
“For it were better for them not to have known the way of 
righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from 
the holy commandment.”’ It is useless, and quite aside 
from the purpose of Peter, to argue here either against or 
for the doctrine of ‘‘the perseverance of the saints’”’ or the 
possibility of ‘falling from grace.” From the proverb 
with which the chapter closes it would seem that the per- 
sons described had never really experienced a ‘‘new birth’’ 
or a change of nature; however, the point here is to warn 
persons against self-deception, against all false sense of 


~ 
. 


102 SECOND PETER [is Péter? uh 7-22" 


security, against false teachers who make light of sin and 
corrupt the teachings of Christ. Noone can presume upon 
a past religious experience, whether it was real or imagin- 
ary. Each one must, and will, increase his knowledge of 
Christ by a diligent cultivation of Christian graces in case 
he is to find an “entrance into the eternal kingdom.”’ 


MT Peter 3:1-7 COMING OF CHRIST 103 


3. THE COMING oF CuHrisT. II Peter, ch. 3 
a. The Certainty. Ch. 3: 1-7 


1 This is now, beloved, the second epistle that I write unto 
you; and in both of them I stir up your sincere mind by 
putting you in remembrance; 2 that ye should remember the 
words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and 
the commandment of the Lord and Saviour through your 
apostles: 3 knowing this first, that in the last days mockers 
shall come with mockery, walking after their own lusts, 4 
and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for, from the 
day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they 
were from the beginning of the creation. 5 For this they 
wilfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an 
earth compacted out of water and amidst water, by the word 
of God; 6 by which means the world that then was, being 
overflowed with water, perished: 7 but the heavens that now 
are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up 
for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and 
destruction of ungodly men. 


The return of Christ and the establishment on earth of 
his perfected Kingdom has been the blessed hope of the 
Church through all the passing centuries. In writing his 
First Epistle, this hope was continually used by Peter as an 
inspiring motive for patience in suffering and for fidelity 
in the performance of duty. In this Second Epistle, the 
same truth also is so continually in mind that the two 
letters have commonly been called the ‘Epistles of Hope.” 

Thus as he begins this third chapter, Peter states that 
his purpose in writing is to remind his readers of the teach- 
ings of apostles and prophets concerning the return of 
Christ, and specifically of their prediction that, as the 
present age drew to its close, men would appear who would 
ridicule the very idea of a second advent: “knowing this 
first, that in the last days mockers shall come with mock- 
ery, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is 
the promise of his coming?’’ As their appearance had 
‘gen predicted thus in connection with the Lord’s return 


3 


104 SECOND PETER II Peter 3: 1-7 - 


the very existence and words of such scoffers proved the 
truth which they attempted to deny. 

It may be noted that there is a very modern accent in 
the two grounds on which their denial is based: first, the 
lapse of time since the promise was made; and second, the 
improbability of its fulfillment: ‘‘for, from the day that 
the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from 
the beginning of the creation.’ That is to say, first, our 
Lord had suggested that his return might be at an early 
date, and now practically a generation had passed away, 
at least most of the early fathers of the Church were dead, 
and as Christ had not returned there must be some mis- 
take about his promise or the common interpretation of 
his promise; he had not come, so, the scoffers concluded, 
he would not come. 

The second objection sounds quite as familiar to-day: 
“‘all things continue as they were from the beginning of the 
creation’’; that is to say, law is uniform, miracle is impos- 
sible, the sole process in the universe is evolution, the super- 
natural is inconceivable; the return of Christ with its 
attendant circumstances is absolutely miraculous, catas- 
trophic, supernatural; therefore it is the foolish dream of 
fanatics and not worthy the serious thought of men of en- 
lightenment and culture. 

This second objection Peter at once discusses; the 
first he meets in the next paragraph. As to the ‘‘uni- 
formity of nature,”’ is it true that there has been no divine 
act, no “supernatural intervention?’”’ Do not these 
scoffers ‘‘wilfully forget’? and stubbornly neglect certain 
known facts? How did the world come into being, and 
how was the “‘process of evolution’’ begun; were these not 
““‘by the word of God?’ Or, how about the flood? was it 
not by this same divine Word that ‘‘the world. . . being 
overflowed with water, perished?’ If God sent a deluge 
to punish a guilty world, is it not possible that Christ may 
appear in flaming fire to punish the ungodly and to deliver 
his saints? 

This seems to be the argument of Peter. Of course his 
language is figurative. It is certain that the flood did not 
destroy the heaven and the earth; of this absurd state- 


II Peter 3: 8-13 COMING OF CHRIST 105 


ment Peter is guilty if words must be taken literally. So 
when Christ comes he will not destroy the earth. Fire is 
a symbol of divine judgment and of purification. Just 
what the figures of speech imply will always be a matter 
of controversy and conjecture; but as to the fact of our 
Lord’s return there need be no doubt. It is established, 
as Peter declares, by the words of ‘“‘the holy prophets”’ 
and of “the Lord and Saviour’ himself. These words 
must be studied with patience, and expounded with care, 
and defended with charity; but in days of deepest dark- 
ness they are, to men of “‘sincere mind”’ and simple faith, 
stars of hope, pointing to the dawn and the glorious 
appearing of the King. 


b. The Time and Circumstances. Ch. 3 : 8-13 


8 But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is 
with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as 
one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as 
some count slackness; but is longsuffering to you-ward, not 
wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to 
repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; 
in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, 
and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the 
earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 
11 Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what 
manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy living and godli- 
ness, 12 looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the 
day of God, by reason of which the heavens being on fire shall 
be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 
13 But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens 
and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 


While the blessed hope of their Lord’s return has been 
the stay and comfort of his followers in every age, there 
have always been men, even within the Church, who have 
ridiculed the doctrine as an idle fancy, a chimera, a dream. 
There were such men in the days of Peter, and he writes 
his Second Epistle to warn his readers against these 
teachers of unbelief; such teachers exist to-day, and ex- 
press polite surprise that any persons could be so lacking 
in intelligence as to expect a literal, visible, glorious 
reappearing of Jesus Christ; such have been predicted 


a | 


106 SECOND PETER {I Peter 3:8-13- 


to appear ‘‘in the last days,’ and their scoffing will make 
them unconscious witnesses of the fact they deride. 

In the earlier verses of this chapter, Peter has indicated 
that such unbelief was not due to any lack of prediction 
on the part of Christ or of the prophets and apostles, but 
was due to the long delay in the fulfillment of the promises; 
no one who reads the New Testament questions the fact 
that the early Christians expected the return of the Lord, 
and regarded it as possible in their own day; ‘‘but,” say 
these doubters, ‘‘the early Church was evidently mistaken; 
the prediction has been discredited by these ages of delay.” 
To such Peter makes his memorable reply: ‘‘But forget 
not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord 
as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”’ 
That is to say, time is purely relative, and what seems a 
long delay to man is not long in the mind of the Eternal; 
to him the issues of a single day are permanent, endless; 
and the events of a thousand years are present, real, 
already passing before him. 

Thus to the charge of a long delay, Peter replies, first, 
that men are poor judges of the length and shortness of 
time in which divine counsels are concerned; he replies, 
in the next place, that what, even in human judgment, is 
a long delay is occasioned by a wise and gracious purpose: 
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise,’ not un- 
mindful, not indifferent to his word, ‘‘but is longsuffering 
to you-ward, not wishing that any should perish, but that 
all should come to repentance’’; if he delays his judgment, 
it is that men, even the readers of this epistle, may have 
time to repent and to accept the salvation he has provided 
in Jesus Christ. 

In the third place, Peter states that the long delay 
should not make men careless or lull them into a false 
security, for ‘“‘the day of the Lord will come as a thief.” 
The mere fact that events seem to be taking their usual 
course, or have so continued for ages, is no proof that the 
Lord will not return. By the world the event wil! be un- 
expected; the time is always uncertain; the lack of ex- 
pectation on the part of believers is a predicted sign that 
the coming may be near. 


II Peter 3:8-13 COMING OF CHRIST 107 


It is folly to ‘‘set the time’’ for the Lord’s return, or to 
extort from some obscure passages of Scripture a predic- 
tion of the exact date of his coming; nevertheless there are 
certain events and circumstances which will serve as signs 
for those who are watchful. “Ye. . . are not in dark- 
ness, that that day should overtake you as a thief,” 
wrote Paul to the Thessalonian believers. Of these cir- 
cumstances Peter mentions only the physical convulsions 
which precede and attend the appearing of Christ. The 
language he employs is highly figurative and when taken 
literally leads to strange conclusions. He*borrows his 
figures from the last two chapters of Isaiah and from the 
Eighteenth Psalm; the latter is describing a severe storm, 
as it declares that ‘‘the foundations of the world were 
laid bare’; so Peter declares, ‘“‘The earth and the works 
that are therein shall be discovered’”’ [margin]. Isaiah 
described the blessedness of the return from captivity, 
that was to be, for the Jews, like enjoying ‘‘new heavens 
and a new earth.”’ In no case does it mean that the com- 
ing of the Lord is to destroy this earth. When Peter de- 
clares that ‘‘the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, 
and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and 
the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned 
up” he is merely referring to the “‘signs’”’ attending the 
coming of Christ to which the Master himself referred when 
he said: ‘‘the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall 
not give her light, and the stars shall be falling from 
heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens shall be 
shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in 
clouds with great power and glory.” ‘‘But when these 
things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your 
heads; because your redemption draweth nigh.’’ Peter 
is merely giving a picture of coming judgments. The 
issue of these convulsions, whatever their nature, is ‘‘new 
heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteous- 
ness’; not a new globe, for the nations of the world are 
pictured as still here; as in Isaiah and the two closing 
chapters of the Bible, the ‘‘new earth” is this same old 
world, purified, glorified, redeemed, and the scene of 
righteousness and blessedness and universal peace. 


s 


108 SECOND PETER II Peter 3: 14-18 - 


c. The Consequent Exhortations. Ch. 3 : 14-18 

14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for these things, 
give diligence that ye may be found in peace, without spot and 
blameless in his sight. 15 And account that the longsuffer- 
ing of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul 
also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote unto you; 
16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; 
wherein are some things hard to be understood, which the 
ignorant and unstedfast wrest, as they do also the other 
scriptures, unto their own destruction. 17 Ye therefore, 
beloved, knowing fhese things beforehand, beware lest, 
being carried_away with the error of the wicked, ye fall from 
your own stedfastness. 18 But grow in the grace and 
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him 
be the glory both now and for ever. Amen. 


The purpose of Peter is intensely practical. He has 
written of the return of Christ not to arouse idle specula- 
tion or to occasion bitter disputes but to make better men 
and women. ‘Two facts he makes perfectly clear: Christ 
will come, the result will be a reign of righteousness; 
but as the coming is attended with judgment, ‘‘what 
manner of persons” ought we to be “‘in all holy living and 
godliness,’ should we not be “looking for and earnestly 
desiring the coming of the day of God?’ Thus Peter 
argues. We may not be able to interpret all his symbols, 
or to understand all that the ‘‘day of God”’ will contain, 
but the exhortations of the apostle are clear; he makes our 
duty plain. 

Thus, as he brings the epistle to a close, Peter gives two 
parting injunctions: one is to steadfastness, the other to 
spiritual growth. ‘Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye 
look for these things, give diligence that ye may be 
found in peace’; the return of Christ should not occasion 
restless excitement but calm confidence; it should impel 
us to lives of purity that we may be “without spot and 
blameless in his sight,’’ for if we are expecting the bride- 
groom we should keep our garments white and clean. We 
should remember that if he delays his coming it is to give 
us an opportunity to accept and to proclaim his salvation, 
even as Paul has written in his epistles; these epistles are 
inspired and to be accepted as holy Scripture, but they 
contain passages hard to understand which men who are 


II Peter 3: 14-18 COMING OF CHRIST 109 


ignorant of spiritual truth and eager to find an excuse for 
sin have misinterpreted so as to allow themselves license 
which is destroying their souls. We have been warned in 
advance of the evil influences of false teachers, and of the 
peril of turning from the truth; we therefore should stand 
firm and steadfast. We should ‘“‘grow in the grace and 
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.’’ This 
can be possible, as Peter has shown us, only by daily and 
diligently developing the virtues which we have seen re- 
vealed in our Lord, and by continually dwelling upon his 
word. ‘‘To him be the glory both now and for ever. 
Amen.” 


110 FIRST: EPISTLE OF JOHN 


THE FIRST EPISTLE OF 
JOHN 


Are you certain that you are a Christian? Are you con- 
scious of fellowship with the Father and with his Son? 
Are you confident that by faith in Christ you have been 
“born again” and that you are a true “‘child of God?” 
To answer such questions this epistle was composed. The 
writer states his purpose quite clearly: ‘These things have 
I written unto you, that ye may know that ye haveeternal - 
life, even unto you that believe on the name of the Son of 
God.”’ The phrase “‘eternal life’’ does not mean merely 
endless existence; it denotes not only the length, but also 
the kind, of life; it suggests a relation, not to time, but to 
God; it describes the life revealed in Christ and shared 
by those who put their trust in him. 

The assurance that one has this “‘life’’ is not mystical 
or mysterious. The knowledge is based upon grounds 
which are simple and plain. They are chiefly three: 
faith and righteousness and love. They correspond to 
three great affirmations in reference to God made by the 
writer: ‘God is light,” ‘‘He is righteous,’’ ‘‘God is love.” 
If such is the nature of the Father, then his children will 
be like him; they will believe in his Son who is “‘the 
light of the world’’; they will be righteous ‘‘even as he is 
righteous’; they will ‘love the children of God’’; and they 
will “love God and do his commandments.’ Thus belief 
and righteousness and love are declared to be tests of 
“eternal life.’’ They can be absent from the experience 
of no real Christian. 

The epistle, however, is much more than a mere series of 
tests. So conscious are we of the imperfection of our 
faith and holiness and love, that such tests might be ap- 
plied in such a way as to tease and torment the truest 
follower of Christ. The writer aims to comfort and to 
encourage. He wishes to assure the humblest believers 


FIRST EPISTLE OF. JOHN 111 


that “eternal life’ is their present possession, and to urge - 
them to manifest more and more fully its characteristics 
and its qualities. These ‘‘tests of life’ are not intended 
to gratify morbid introspection, nor to encourage our self- 
righteousness, nor to enable us to criticize and condemn 
others. The purpose of the letter is to give to believers a 
happy confidence in their blessed state, to enable them to 
appreciate their marvelous privileges, and to encourage 
them to a faithful performance of their duties, to a fuller 
development of life, and to a more perfect fellowship with 
God. 

The writer has another purpose, closely related and 
equally practical: he desires to warn his readers against 
certain prevalent errors of belief and practice. There were 
those who once had-been professed Christians, who ‘‘went 
out” from the Church, who denied that our Lord is truly 
God and truly man, at once human and divine. To this 
false teaching they apparently added the perilous doctrine 
that one who was living in sin might still be “spiritual” 
and a “‘child of God.’ So dangerous were such teachers, 
so truly hostile to Christianity, that the writer calls them 
“‘antichrists’’ and declares that they have no fellowship 
with the Father or the Son. They are not ‘of God"; 
they are “of the world.” 

This little word ‘‘of’’ is quite significant. Like “in,” 
it is one of the most important words of the epistle. 
“Of” denotes origin, nature, source, likeness, birth, thus; 
one who is ‘‘of God”’ is born of God, is like God, is a child 
of God. “In” signifies ‘union with,’’ permanent indwell- 
ing, ‘‘fellowship’’; thus, as believers in Christ, we are urged 
to “abide in him,” and are assured that ‘‘we are in him that 
is true.” 

These little words, used in connection with such leading 
terms as ‘“‘God”’ and “the world,” “‘light and darkness,” 
“love” and “‘hate,’’ aid in forming the striking contrasts 
which characterize the epistle, and, as already intimated, 
they summarize in large measure the content of the epistle 
which concerns the life of those who are described either as 
“in him,’ and so having fellowship with God, or as “‘of 
God” and so ‘“‘children of God.’’ The style of the epistle 


112 FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN 


is pure, clear, and artlessly simple. Its profound truths 
are set forth in brief phrases, and are emphasized by 
repetitions which in form are rhythmic and poetic. Its 
unity is apparent, yet the structure is such as to evade 
exact analysis. The main truths and something of their 
relation may be indicated by the appended analysis. It is 
suggested in part by a modern writer whose interpreta- 
tions mold in large measure the exposition which follows: 


1. Introduction: The Life Eternal Revealed in Christ. 
I John 1 : 1-4. 
2. The Life of Fellowship with God. Ch. 1:5to2:29., 
a. Tested by Righteousness. Ch.1:5to2:6. 
b. Tested by Love. Ch. 2 : 7-17. 
c. Tested by Belief. Ch. 2 : 18-29. 
3. The Life of the Children of God. Ch. 3]: 1 to4:6. 
a. Tested by Righteousness. Ch. 3 : 1-10. 
b. Tested by Love. Ch. 3 : 11-24. 
c. Tested by Belief. Ch. 4: 1-6. 
. The Source of Love. Ch. 4: 7-21. 
The Triumph of Righteousness. Ch. 5 : 1-5. 
. The Grounds of Belief. Ch. 5 : 6-12. 
. Conclusion: Christian Certainties. Ch. 5 : 13-21. 


SID) 


I John 1: 1-4 LIFE ETERNAL 113 


1. THE LirE ETERNAL, REVEALED IN CHRIST. 
I John 1: 1-4 

1 That which was from the beginning, that which we have 
heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we 
beheld, and our hands handled, concerning the Word of 
life 2 (and the life was manifested, and we have seen, and 
bear witness, and declare unto you the life, the eternal life, 
which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us); 
3 that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you 
also, that ye also may have fellowship with us: yea, and our 
fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ: 
4 and these things we write, that our joy may be made full. 


The writer of this epistle makes no mention of his name; 
but when we compare these opening sentences with those 
of the Gospel of John we are struck with the similarity; 
and as we read on, in both compositions, we find the same 
phrases, the same profound thoughts, the same unique 
style, the same spiritual insight, until we conclude that the 
author of this epistle, almost beyond question, is the ‘“‘dis- 
ciple whom Jesus loved,” John, the son of Zebedee, the 
brother of James. Heisanold man now. His imprison- 
ment on the lonely isle of Patmos is past, and he is prob- 
ably residing in Ephesus, caring for the churches, and 
revered as the last surviving member of the band of 
apostles. It is this consciousness of his peculiar relation 
to Christ which gives to his epistle its prevailing note of 
authority. The writer is full of tenderness and affection, 
yet his quiet words are delivered with an implication that 
they are infallible and final, and that from them there can 
be no appeal. Apostolic authority is nowhere claimed; 
it is everywhere assumed. It is helpful to believe that we 
are reading the inspired words of the man who was the 
most intimate and beloved companion of our Lord in the 
days of his earthly ministry. 

Nor are the readers specified or described. Of all the 
“general” or ‘‘catholic’’ epistles, this epistle is most 
obviously written for Christians in ‘‘general,’’ for believers 
in the “whole world.” That it is written to Christians is 


114 FIRST JOHN I John 1: 1-4. 


continually implied, and is definitely stated: ‘These 
things have I writtenunto you . . . that believe on the 
name of the Son of God.’ No matter in what city or 
province they may have lived to whom these lines first 
came, it is evident that their message comes as a personal 
appeal to believers in every land and age. 

The theme at once arrests attention. It is life, or more 
definitely, eternal life. The term denotes not merely 
endless existence, but the life of God, revealed in Jesus 
Christ, and shared by all who put their trustin him. This 
does not mean that believers become ‘“‘divine’”’ or partake 
of the being of God, but they do possess a new moral life; 
its source is in God, its channel is faith, its issues are good- 
ness and love. So inseparable is this life from Christ, that © 
he is called ‘“‘the Word of life.” In him was manifested 
that life which was timeless and which he possessed in 
eternal fellowship with the Father. That which the apos- 
tles have known of this life “from the beginning,’ that 
which they ‘“‘have heard,’ that which they ‘‘have seen”’ 
with their eyes, that which they ‘‘beheld’”’ and _ their 
“hands handled,’ that is to form the burden of this 
matchless letter of life. 

The purpose of the epistle is that, by a knowledge of the 
life revealed, the readers may have fellowship with the 
apostles in their assurance as partakers of this life, in their 
appreciation of its privileges, in their accomplishment of 
its duties. The fellowship which the apostles enjoy is 
more than mere human companionship and intimacy, it is 
a fellowship “with the Father, and with his Son Jesus 
Christ.’”’ To promote and perfect such fellowship, the 
writer declares, will make his joy full and complete. 

We should note then that in his introduction John makes 
plain the fact that life, true life, eternal life, consists in 
fellowship with God. This is the highest possible experi- 
ence for the human soul. 

Further, he shows that this fellowship is possible only 
through faith in Christ, who is himself the Manifestation 
of the life of God, or as John calls him, ‘‘the Word of life.” 

Again John declares this Christ to be divine and human; 
even ‘‘from the beginning’’ he has been in timeless, vital 


! John 1: 1-4 LIFE ETERNAL 115 


relation with the Father, but he has been revealed as truly 
man who could be seen and heard. He isa risen Christ, for 
John refers to his being “handled” in language which 
reminds us definitely of the scene in that upper room at 
the close of the resurrection day. 

We are further reminded that faith in this Christ is not 
a matter of credulity or mysticism or superstition. Faith 
is belief founded upon evidence. The apostles were men 
of reason, they had the witness of their senses, they had 
abundant opportunity for investigating the facts. They 
testified that which they had seen and heard. There is an 
interesting climax in the order of the expressions used by 
John; they heard what was at a distance, they saw what 
was nearer, they beheld what was closer still, their ‘Shands 
handled”’ the divine Lord who stood in their midst. So 
too, for such as follow him, the divine Christ becomes ever 
more real as they find in him eternal life and fellowship 
with God. 

Further still we may note that the highest fellowship 
among men is that which comes from accepting Christian 
verities. No other communion is so intimate, and no other 
companionships so inspiring as those which are based 
on a vital faith in Christ. 

Finally we may note that the deepest source of joy is 
found in service, and the highest form of service consists 
in bringing others into fellowship ‘‘with the Father, and 
with his Son Jesus Christ.”” By such service ‘‘our joy 
may be made full.” 


116 FIRST JOHN I John 1:5 to 2:6 


2. Tue LIFE OF FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD. 
Chile Sttowzusi.y 


a. Tested by Righteousness. Ch. 1:5 to 2:6 


1:5 And this is the message which we have heard from him 
and announce unto you, that God is light, and in him is no 
darkness atall. 6If we say that we have fellowship with him 
and walk in the darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 but 
if we walk in the light, as he is in the Jight, we have fellow- 
ship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleans- 
eth us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we de- 
ceive ourselves, and the truth is notin us. 9 If we confess 
our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, 
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say 
that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is 
not in us. 

2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you that ye 
may not sin. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate 
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 and he is the 
propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for 
the whole world. 3 And hereby we know that we know him, 
if we keep his commandments. 4 He that saith, I know him, 
and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is 
not in him; 5 but whoso keepeth his word, in him verily 
hath the love of God been perfected. Hereby we know that 
we are in him: 6 he that saith he abideth in him ought him- 
self also to walk even as he walked. 


In the opening verses of his epistle, John has described 
the Christian life as resulting from a knowledge of God as 
he is revealed in Christ, and as consisting essentially in 
fellowship with God. In the later portions of the epistle, 
this life is otherwise described as issuing from a new birth 
as the result of which believers become the children of 
God. Here, however, and through the first two chapters 
of the letter, the “eternal life’’ which is possessed by 
Christians is regarded as a divine fellowship. 

In accordance with his purpose John at once suggests 
the tests of this life. If one has fellowship with God he 


I John 1:5 to 2:6 FELLOWSHIP 117 


will have accepted all that God has revealed in Christ, » 
and will be living in accord with this revelation. He will 
be like God; but what is God like? ‘God is light.” 
This great truth underlies all that the first two chapters 
contain. Light is the most beautiful, the most glorious, 
thing in the world. It is the symbol of purity and love 
and truth. The main function of light, however, is to 
reveal, and the writer has in mind mainly the self-revela- 
tion of God, when he declares that ‘‘the message which we 
have heard”’ from Christ is this: ‘‘God is light, and in him 
is no darkness at all.”’ Therefore, if we are to have fellow- 
ship with God, it is evident that we must ‘‘walk in the 
light.” This means that we must be righteous, and must 
love one another and must believe in Jesus Christ. 

Thus righteousness is the first test of fellowship with 
God. Itis very obvious that the proof of being a Christian 
is found in the life one leads. Yet the application of this 
test is more difficult than may at first appear. It may’ 
result in discouragement or in self-deception. Some 
Christians are so conscious of sin that if righteousnessis 
the test, they may conclude that they have no fellowship 
with God; others are so certain of fellowship with God, 
that, as righteousness is the test of such fellowship, they 
conclude they have no sin. 

It is reassuring then to find that as John applies this 
test, first negatively and then positively, the first applica- 
tion centers in the consciousness of sin, as the second 
centers in the doing of righteousness. That is to say, if 
we walk in the light which God has revealed, we cannot 
fail to be aware of our sinfulness. The greatest saints 
have been most painfully conscious of their imperfection. 
It is true, however, that sin has not been the purpose and 
intent of their lives. One who refuses to accept the moral 
light revealed in Christ, and who is unwilling to obey that 
light, cannot have fellowship with God: “If we say that 
we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we 
lie, and do not the truth.” John mentions three such 
falsehoods, and three contrasted truths. To say that one 
is a Christian, while he is walking in darkness, is a lie; 
this “walking in darkness’”’ does not mean necessarily to 


bs 


118 FIRST JOHN I John:i:5 to226- 


live in vice or immorality, but to pursue the daily task 
without reference to the will of God, to live according to 
worldly standards, to seek selfish goals, to exclude the 
light offered in Christ; this is to make impossible our fel- 
lowship with God. 

In contrast with this falsehood, John states the unex- 
pected truth, not that if we walk in the light we have 
fellowship with God, which would have been a natural 
conclusion to his sentence, but this related truth, that 
such a walk insures fellowship with other Christians, and 
continual cleansing from the daily sins of which we are 
conscious. 

This first falsehood, then, consists in saying that sin is a 
matter of no consequence, that a man can live without - 
regard to the will of God and still enjoy fellowship with 
God. 

The second of these falsehoods which men are tempted 
to utter declares that we are not responsible for sin. ‘“‘If 
we say that we have no'sin, we deceive ourselves, and the 
truth is not in us.’”’ Here John protests not only against 
the theories of his own day which taught that evil resided 
in matter and is not a concern of the spirit, but also against 
the materialists of our own day who insist that sin is a 
question of body, or mind, an affection of the brain, a 
result of inheritance or surroundings, a consequence of 
education or social customs. John declares that it is 
caused by the human will, and that it involves man in 
guilt. He adds, however, that ‘if we confessour sins, he is 
faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse 
us from all unrighteousness.” 

A third false view which a Christian is tempted to take of 
himself denies that in his own case sin exists. As to this 
claim of sinlessness John declares, “If we say that we have 
not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”’ 

If sin is universal, however, there is likewise a universal 
provision for sin. ‘The writer does not mean to encourage 
sin, but to comfort one who has sinned. ‘‘My little 
children, these things write I unto you that ye may not 
sin. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the 
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the pro- 


I John 1:5 to 2:6 FELLOWSHIP 119 


pitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for 
the whole world.”” The provision is thus twofold: inter- 
cession, and propitiation. The last word indicates a 
sacrifice in virtue of which sin is ‘‘covered’”’ and its guilt 
is removed. Just before, we were told that ‘“‘the blood of 
Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin,” and further that 
God “‘is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and 
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” So our thought 
here is led to the atoning work of Christ. By means of 
his death, sin is pardoned, the barrier is removed, and 
fellowship with God is restored. Christ is also our 
‘‘Advocate”’; this is the beautiful word ‘‘Paraclete’”’ or 
“‘Comforter’’; it defines one who stands near to render 
help, and particularly to plead one’s cause. He is certain 
to secure our pardon for he is “righteous’’ and he pleads 
with the Father who loves us and who himself ‘‘sent the 
Son to be the Saviour of the world.” 

It is evident then that walking in the light involves a 
consciousness of sin as moral guilt and as interrupting our 
fellowship with God; but it also involves an experience of 
pardon conditioned on our repentance and confession and 
upon the death and intercession of Christ. 

Yet this “walking in the light” includes not only the 
recognition of what is true, but the doing of what is right. 
The knowledge of God, or fellowship with God, is tested 
positively by obedience to the divine commands. ‘And 
hereby we know that we know him, if we keep his com- 
mandments.’’ No boasted acquaintance with sacred 
truths, no glib acceptance of a lengthy creed, are proofs 
of divine fellowship. ‘He that saith, I know him, and 
keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth 
is not in him.”’ Real fellowship with God, in which is 
developed his love for us and our love for him, is proved 
by doing his will: ‘‘Whoso keepeth his word, in him verily 
hath the love of God been perfected.’”’ Even as Christ 
was ever delighting to do the will of his Father, so our 
claim of a continuing fellowship with God will be attested 
by our faithful following of Christ: ‘He that saith he 
abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as he 
walked.” 


120 FIRST JOHN I John 2:7-17 


b. Tested by Love. Ch. 2 : 7-17 


7 Beloved, no new commandment write I unto you, but an 
old commandment which ye had from the beginning: the 
old commandment is the word which ye heard. 8 Again, a 
new commandment write I unto you, which thing is true in 
him and in you; because the darkness is passing away, 
and the true light already shineth. 9 He that saith he is in 
the light and hateth his brother, is in the darkness even until 
now. 10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and 
there is no occasion of stumbling in him. 11 But he that 
hateth his brother is in the darkness, and walketh in the dark- 
ness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because the dark- 
ness hath blinded his eyes. 

12 I write unto you, my little children, because your sins 
are forgiven you for his name’s sake. 13 I write unto you, 
fathers, because ye know him who is from the beginning. I 
write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the 
evil one. I have written unto you, little children, because 
ye know the Father. 14 Ihave written unto you, fathers, be- 
cause ye know him who is from the beginning. I have writ- 
ten unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the 
word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the evil 
one. 15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in 
the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father 
is notin him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the 
flesh and the lust of the eyes and the vainglory of life, is 
not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world 
passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the 
will of God abideth for ever. 


One who is walking in the light revealed by Christ will 
not only do what is right in refraining from sin, he will also 
keep the great commandment of love which Christ gave 
and himself fulfilled. Love is an inevitable test of fellow- 
ship with God. In applying the test of righteousness, the 
writer showed that it is manifested negatively in the 
consciousness and confession of sin, and positively in the 
perception and performance of duty. Soin dealing with 
this second test, he shows that it consists, positively, in 
loving one’s brother (vs. 7-11) and, negatively, in not 
loving the world (vs. 12-17). 

In introducing this test John does not name it; he does 
however use a new term to describe his readers; he calls 


I John 2: 7-17 FELLOWSHIP 121 


them ‘‘Beloved,’’ and thus expresses love when about to 
encourage love. He designates his subject by calling it 
the “commandment” which is at once “‘old’”’ and ‘‘new.”’ 
Since their first acquaintance with Christ his followers had 
known that the great law of life was love. Even Moses, 
centuries before, had set forth !ove as embodying and 
comprehending all law. Christ, however, had given to 
love a new standard and a new motive. His followers 
were to love one another as he had loved them, and for his 
sake. In them and in him love was finding its real ex- 
pression; as John writes, “which thing istrue in him and 
in you.”’ He is the more eager to remind his readers of 
this commandment, because the light which the gospel 
reveals, the light of God’s real nature, is dispelling the 
darkness of moral ignorance; and as the chief excellence 
of that light is love, the followers of Christ should assure 
themselves that they are walking in the light by keeping 
the ‘‘old’”’ commandment which has become ‘‘new.”’ 

This test is not difficult to apply: ‘‘He that saith he is 
in the light and hateth his brother, is in darkness even 
until now.’”” Even though one boasts his spiritual enlight- 
enment, even though the “‘true light’’ may be shining all 
about him, if he hates his brother he is really walking in 
darkness. ‘‘He that loveth his brother abideth in the 
light, and there is no occasion of stumbling in him,” 
that is, there is nothing in his heart and disposition which 
may occasion him to stumble and fall, no anger or pride 
or envy or thirst for revenge. These perils one avoids 
who walks in the light of love. On the other hand ‘‘he 
that hateth his brother is in the darkness, and walketh 
in the darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, 
because the darkness hath blinded his eyes.’’ Surely 
nothing is so blind as hatred; it conceals from us our 
faults, and the virtues of others. It keeps us in ignorance 
of our moral peril and indifferent to the consequences of 
our deeds. No one who lives under the power of hatred, 
no one who fails to obey the impulse of love, can claim 
fellowship with God, for ‘‘God is love.” 

Before turning to the negative application of this text, 
to explain why he speaks so earnestly, or to prepare the 


s 


122 FIRST JOHN I John 2: 7-17 


way for his solemn warning against the love of the world, 
John makes a sixfold statement of the spiritual character 
and attainments of those to whom he is writing. He says 
in effect that the reason for his message is not any doubt 
as to their Christian standing or progress, but rather to 
encourage them to further achievements and to caution 
them against temptations from which even they cannot be 
free. This statement brings to modern readers of this 
epistle the reminder that we are urged to do righteousness 
and to manifest love, not that we may become Christians, 
but because we already enjoy fellowship with God, and 
are seeking for a larger realization of all the privileges such 
fellowship allows; and further it suggests that even such 
persons as are here described are not beyond the reach > 
of the perilous allurements and fascinations of the world. 

The reasons combined in this sixfold statement are 
arranged in two parallel series of three each. The first 
in each series is addressed to the readers in general, the 
second to the more mature readers, and the third to the 
younger among them. ‘Little children”’ is the term which 
the writer applies to all his readers, to whom he stands in 
the affectionate relation of a spiritual father. He declares 
that he is writing to them “‘because your sins are forgiven 
you for his name’s sake.”’ It is easy to see why this stands 
first. The forgiveness of sins is the initial and fundamental 
experience of a Christian; it is the supreme need of every 
soul; it is the absolute condition of fellowship with God, 
and the main message of the epistle has been concerned 
with the provision for this pardon in the “‘blood,’’ the 
“cleansing,” the advocacy, the ‘‘propitiation,” of Jesus 
Christ. 

The second reason for addressing all his readers is this: 
‘“‘because ye know the Father.’’ This knowledge is made 
possible through Christ; it is the very essence of “eternal 
life’; it is capable of continual development, but, like 
the forgiveness of sins, it is an experience common to all 
Christians. 

When John turns to address the more mature among his 
readers, he calls them ‘“‘fathers,’’and in each instance the 
reason assigned is this: ‘because ye know him who is 


I John 2: 7-17 FELLOWSHIP 123 


from the beginning.’”’ The reference is to Christ, and the 
suggestion is that through him comes the knowledge of 
God, and that this knowledge increases in its depth and 
fullness by the experiences of life, by the pressure of 
problems, by the stress of sorrows, by the changes and 
mysteries of the passing years. - 

The other special group of readers whom John addresses 
are the ‘‘young men.”’ He declares that he writes to them 
with the full consciousness that they ‘‘are strong,’’ that 
“the word of God abideth” in them, and that they ‘“‘have 
overcome the evil one.” It is for this very reason that he 
can summon them to further conflict in the battle against 
“‘the world” and all its enticements. For such a struggle 
they are prepared; they have been given divire strength, 
the word of God is their weapon, and they are confident 
in the victories already won against the deadly enemy of 
their souls. 

To readers such as these John may well give his great 
exhortation. Those who “know the Father” are ready to 
heed the warning, ‘‘Love not the world”; those who know 
the eternal, changeless Christ are prepared to resist the 
alluring seductions of time which so soon are passing away; 
those who have overcome the Evil One are ready to with- 
stand his familiar forms of attack in ‘‘the lust of the 
flesh and the lust of the eyes and the vainglory of life.”’ 

When the writer speaks here of ‘‘the world,’ he, of 
course, does not refer to the beautiful world of nature, with 
its changing seasons, its sunlight and flowers, its moun- 
tains, seas, and summer skies. Nor does he refer to the 
complex world of human relationships, with its duties and 
joys, its friendships, its struggles, its triumphs, and its 
tears. He refers to “‘the world” of unbelieving men and 
women, to the society of the unspiritual and the godless. 
This is ‘‘the world”’ we are not to love. We are not to 
court its favors, not to follow its customs, not to adopt its 
maxims, not to covet its prizes. ‘If any man love the 
world, the love of the Father is not in him.’”’ The Christ- 
less world has always been opposed to the will of God. It 
would be impossible for the heart to be set upon ‘‘the 
world,” and at the same time to be filled with love for the 


s 


124 FIRST JOHN I John 2: 18-26. 


Father. For what are the three main elements of worldly 
life? First, ‘‘the lust of the flesh,’’ by which is meant not 
the natural appetites of the body which are innocent, but 
unlawful desires which seek to enslave the soul. Secondly, 
there is the ‘‘lust of the eyes,’’ the appeal which is made 
to the esthetic sense, to the mind, to the imagination, 
when this appeal is divorced from all thought of God and 
from all obedience to Christ. Even the love of beauty 
and the love of knowledge may prove to be worldly sub- 
stitutes for the love of God. 

Lastly there is ‘‘the vainglory of life,’’ the pride of place 
and possessions, the foolish sense of security and satisfac- 
tion in things which are so soon to vanish, the senseless 
gratification in conscious superiority to others; surely . 
these are ‘‘not of the Father,’”’ but they form the familiar 
features of “‘the world.” 

On many grounds it would be easy to condemn the 
“love of the world’? which excludes the “love of the 
Father’; John mentions but one, and solemnly declares 
the wisdom of a contrary choice: ‘And the world passeth 
away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of 
God abideth for ever.” 


c. Tested by Belief. Ch. 2 : 18-29 


18 Little children, it is the last hour: and as ye heard that 
antichrist cometh, even now have there arisen many anti- 
christs; whereby we know that it is the last hour. 19 They 
went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been 
of us, they would have continued with us: but they went out, 
that they might be made manifest that they all are not of us. 
20 And ye have an anointing from the Holy One, and ye know 
all things. 21 I have not written unto you because ye know 
not the truth, but because ye know it, and because no lie 
is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but he that denieth that 
Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, even he that 
denieth the Father and the Son. 23 Whosoever denieth the 
Son, the same hath not the Father: he that confesseth the 
Son hath the Father also. 24 As for you, let that abide in 
you which ye heard from the beginning. If that which ye 
heard from the beginning abide in you, ye also shall abide 
in the Son, and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise 
which he promised us, even the life eternal. 26 These things 


I John 2: 27-29 FELLOWSHIP 125 


have I written unto you concerning them that would lead you 
astray. 27 And as for you, the anointing which ye received 
of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any one teach 
you; but as his anointing teacheth you concerning all things, 
and is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you, ye abide 
in him. 28 And now, my little children, abide in him; that, 
if he shall be manifested, we may have boldness, and not be 
ashamed before him at his coming. 29 If ye know that he is 
righteous, ye know that every one also that doeth righteous- 
ness is begotten of him. 


John had just been speaking of the passing away of 
“‘the world.” He referred to the close of this present age, 
to the coming of Christ, and the consequent end of that 
order in which lust and selfishness and vanity are con- 
trolling principles. Now he affirms that the time may be 
near: ‘Little children, it is the last hour.’’ The proof is 
found in the present unbelief and opposition to Christ. 
It has been predicted that when Christ returns there will 
be in existence a ‘‘man of sin,”’ ‘‘the beast,’’ the ‘“‘anti- 
christ,’’ whom the Lord will destroy. The manifestation 
of this antichristian spirit is a sure sign that his coming may 
not be far distant: ‘‘Ye heard that antichrist cometh, even 
now have there arisen many antichrists; whereby we know 
that it is the last hour.’’ These ‘‘antichrists’’ John sees 
in the persons of the false teachers who have withdrawn 
from the Church. Their withdrawal is a sure proof that 
they never shared in the real life and fellowship of the 
Christian communion; otherwise they never would have 
fallen away: ‘“They went out from us, but they were not 
of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued 
with us.” Their going out, however, is providential, and 
is a real benefit to the Church: ‘They went out, that they 
might be made manifest that they all are not of us.” 
The peril to the Church was much greater before the 
fact was thus manifested that none of these false teachers 
was a real Christian. 

John insists, however, that even had these false profes- 
sors remained in the Church, his readers would have 
detected them; for the Holy Spirit abiding with all 
believers gives to them sure knowledge of the vital truths 


126 FIRST JOHN I John 2: 18-29 


which these apostate teachers deny. This is what is 
meant by the statement: ‘‘And ye have an anointing from 
the Holy One, and ye know all things.”’ The Spirit 
enables one to distinguish essential truth from error; and 
surely these have nothing in common “because no lie is 
of the truth.” . 

The special error against which the readers are warned 
relates to the person of Christ: ‘Who is the liar but he 
that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?’ By the term 
“‘Christ”’ is meant not merely the ‘‘Messiah”’ as predicted 
by the Hebrew prophets, but the “‘Son of God,”’ the eternal 
“Word” of whom John writes. To deny the ‘incarnation,’ 
to deny that the ‘“‘Word”’ who ‘‘was God,”’ “became flesh,”’ 
to deny that Jesus is at once the ideal Man and the true 
God, is the supreme lie: ‘This is the antichrist.’’ The 
last word denotes one who is opposed to Christ and also 
one who appears under the guise of Christ. It intimates 
the pernicious and delusive influence of those who profess 
the name of Christian and yet deny that Jesus is the ‘Son 
of God.’ Such a denial is said to involve a denial of the 
Father and the Son, for if Jesus Christ was not God 
‘‘manifested in the flesh,’’ as he claimed to be, then we have 
no full and saving revelation of God: ‘‘Whosoever denieth 
the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that con- 
fesseth the Son hath the Father also.” 

In view of the prevalence of such false teaching, the 
readers are urged to keep in their hearts, continually, the 
truth concerning Christ which they have received from his 
inspired apostles; for if that abides in them, such a knowl- 
edge of God in Christ will result in fellowship with God, 
or as John here affirms, in ‘‘the life eternal.’ 

Thus solemn is the warning against the seductions of 
false teachers. The preceding paragraph was a warning 
against the allurements of “‘the world.”’ There love of the 
world was declared to be a proof that one did not love 
God, and so was not in fellowship with God; here, denial 
of the truth concerning Christ is declared to indicate this 
lack of divine fellowship. Belief is thus shown to be a 
touchstone of character; it isa test of life. It is more than 
an intellectual assent to truth; it has its moral elements 


I John 2: 18-29 FELLOWSHIP 127 


as well; it consists in submission to a Being who is holy 
and divine. It is a spiritual experience made abiding 
by the indwelling Spirit of God. Therefore John again 
reminds his readers of that ‘“‘anointing’’ which they have 
received, as a result of which they need not be troubled 
by false teaching. ‘‘Ye need not that any-one teach you,”’ 
does not mean, however, that the readers have no need of 
Christian instruction, as the former statement, ‘‘ye know 
all things,’’ does not mean that they are infallible. It does 
mean that those who will ponder the gospel message, and 
allow the Holy Spirit to guide them, will come to an 
enlarging knowledge and a joyful assurance of the truth 
concerning Christ as the divine Son of God. Thus John 
closes the paragraph with the exhortation to “abide in 
him; that, if he shall be manifested, we may have bold- 
ness, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.”’ 
This abiding in Christ will be by faith, but also by obedi- 
ence. These are inseparable. Faith in Christ is a test of 
fellowship with God, but so, too, are holiness and love. 
Therefore John can add, ‘‘Ye know that every one also 
that doeth righteousness is begotten of him.’’ The best 
way to assure our hearts, so that with joyful confidence we 
may expect the return of Christ, is to abide in him with 
loving trust and to do continually his holy will. 


128 FIRST JOHN I John 3: 1-10 


3. THe LIFE OF THE CHILDREN OF Gop. Ch. 3:1 to 4:6 
' a. Tested by Righteousness. Ch. 3 : 1-10 


1 Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed 
upon us, that we should be called children of God; and 
such we are. For this cause the world knoweth us not, 
because it knew him not. 2 Beloved, now are we children of 
God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We 
know that, if he shall be manifested, we shall be like him; 
for we shall see him even as he is. 3 And every one that 
hath this hope se¢ on him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. 
4 Every one that doeth sin doeth also lawlessness; and sin 
is lawlessness. 5 And ye know that he was manifested to 
take away sins; and in him is no sin. 6 Whosoever abideth 
in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, 
neither knoweth him. 7 My little children, let no man lead 
you astray: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as 
he isrighteous: 8 he that doeth sinis of the devil; for the devil 
sinneth from the beginning. To this end was the Son of 
God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 
9 Whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin, because his 
seed abideth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is begot- 
ten of God. 10 In this the children of God are manifest, and 
the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness 
is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. 


In the preceding chapters the Christian life has been 
presented under the figure of a divine fellowship; in the 
chapter which now opens it is represented as the result of 
a divine birth. Believers not only enjoy fellowship with 
God, they are born of God or ‘‘begotten of him’”’; they 
partake of his nature and are the “children of God.” 
This truth was stated in the closing verse of the last chap- 
ter; in fact, that verse might well be regarded as forming 
the introduction to this paragraph: ‘If ye know that he is 
righteous, ye know that every one also that doeth right- 
eousness is begotten of him.’’ Here is affirmed both the 
fact that God imparts a new life, and also that the first 
test of this life is righteousness. 

The fact is in itself surprising, astonishing; the apostle 
cannot repress an exclamation of wonder: ‘‘Behold what 


I John 3: 1-10 CHILDREN OF GOD 129 


manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that 
we should be called children of God.” It should be 
noted that the phrase “‘children of God” is distinct from 
“sons of God.”’ Paul more commonly employs the latter, 
John the former. The word ‘‘sons’’ denotes position, 
rank, legal relationship; but ‘‘children’’. denotes, birth, 
origin, oneness of nature; it is like the Scotch term 
“bairns’”’; it means “born ones.’’ The thought here is 
not of “‘sonship,’’ as is commonly stated, but of a new birth; 
not of ‘‘adoption”’ but of “‘regeneration.’”’ In the infinite 
love of God, he grants to all who believe in Christ a change 
of moral nature, a new disposition, a spiritual experience, 
so vital that he does not hesitate to call them his ‘“‘chil- 
dren,’’ to acknowledge them as such, and to regard and 
treat them as such: ‘‘As many as received him, to them 
gave he the right to become children of God, even to them 
that believe on his name: who were born, not of blood, nor 
of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God.” 
However surprising these statements may seem, however 
great the mysteries involved, the reality is beyond ques- 
tion; so that John adds emphatically, ‘‘and such we are.” 
The words do not apply to all men. ‘We, Christians, are 
called children of God,’’ is what John is saying. While it 
is true that God is the Father of all men, and they are all 
his children, by creation, yet it is also true that there is a 
“new creation,’ and that those who believe in Christ are 
children of a heavenly birth, are truly born of God, are the 
real “children of God.” The true fatherhood of God is 
never fully appreciated until one draws near to him through 
Christ, and the brotherhood of man will never be realized 
until men find the Father through Jesus Christ his Son. 
Instead of including all men in the term ‘‘children of 
God,” John by that term sharply distinguishes Christians 
from the whole mass of unbelieving men and women; 
“‘for this cause the world knoweth us not, because it knew 
him not.”” Those who reject Christ should not be expected 
to understand the followers of Christ. The world ‘knew 
him not,” even “his own [countrymen] . . . received 
him not’’; it is not strange then that the world has no 
sympathy with the motives and aims and character of the 


130 FIRST JOHN I John 3: 1-10 


“children of God”’ who follow in his steps or reproduce his 
life. True Christians will ever be mysterious to unbe- 
lievers. The difference, moreover, is destined to become 
greater. Christians, as the children of God, are growing 
in likeness to the Son of God; and ‘‘we know that, if he 
shall be manifested, we shall be like him; for we shall see 
him even as he is.”’ This blessed hope, to be realized at 
the coming of Christ, concerns chiefly the character, the 
disposition, the moral nature which will be transformed 
and made perfect, by the direct and glorious vision of the 
Lord; yet it includes the transfiguration of the body, which 
is to be “conformed to the body of his glory.” 

All these experiences and privileges belong to those 
whom God calls his children; but who are they? how can 
they be discerned? how will their nature be manifested? 
John replies: ‘“‘And every one that hath this hope set on 
him purifieth himself, even ashe is pure.’ It is only 
natural to suppose that one whose life is fixed upon Christ 
will be imitating Christ, and particularly in the matter of 
avoiding sin and of doing righteousness. John enforces 
this idea by three or four considerations: first, by the 
nature of sin; it is ‘‘lawlessness,’’ and one who is a child 
of God surely will not disregard and defy the law of God; 
secondly, by the nature of Christ and of his work: ‘He 
was manifested to take away sins; and in him is no sin”; 
evidently then a man who sins can have no real acquaint- 
ance with Christ: he “hath not seen him, neither knoweth 
him’”’; thirdly, by the fact that “sin is of the devil’; 
by their attitude toward sin, then, ‘“‘the children of God 
are manifest, and the children of the devil’; fourthly, 
by the character of the ‘‘new birth’’; it consists in the 
imparting of a new life principle, a divine germ; out of 
it sin could not possibly develop: ‘‘Whosoever is begotten 
of God doeth no sin, because his seed abideth in him: 
and he cannot sin, because he is begotten of God.” 

From all this, it is easy to understand that if a man isa 
Christian he will do what is right; if we are “children of 
God”’ we may be expected to resemble him in righteous- 
ness. A grave difficulty, however, exists in the absolute 
and unqualified terms which John employs. He says that 


I John 3: 1-10 CHILDREN OF GOD 131 
a Christian ‘‘doeth no sin,’’ and even ‘“‘cannot sin.’”’ As 
a matter of fact we know that Christians do sin; and John, 
in the first two and in the last chapters of his epistle, 
tells us that Christians can sin and suggests what they 
are to do to find pardon and cleansing when they have 
sinned. ; 

The difficulty is resolved by some in supposing that the 
reference is to a particular class of Christians who attain 
sinless perfection; but this contradicts the simple state- 
ment of the apostle which is universal: ‘‘Whosoever is 
begotten of God doeth no sin. . . and he cannot sin.” 

Others suppose the reference is to the ideal and theoreti- 
cal experience of a Christian; he is a man who does not 
expect to sin, and is not supposed to sin, although practic- 
ally he does sin at times. However, the words of John are 
rather too definite for such an explanation; they refer 
to actual sin; and they say that one ‘‘begotten of God 

. cannot sin.” 

Others explain that the ‘‘new nature” cannot sin, though 
the ‘‘old nature’ may; this involves a false theory of the 
human mind; such belief in a dual personality or a divided 
self finds no support in Scripture or in science. 

Still others suppose that the reference is to habitual 
states, or regular practice; that, John means to say, 
simply, that a Christian will not usually, or continually, 
sin. However, the language i is too definite for this possible 
explanation; the statement is, he ‘‘cannot sin.’ 

It may possibly be best to find the explanation in view 
of the errors John is attempting to combat. He has false 
teachers in mind. ‘“‘My little children, let no man lead 
you astray: he that doeth righteousness is righteous.” 
Evidently these teachers were suggesting that aman might 
be righteous even though he were doing what is wrong. 
There were those who claimed that sin concerned only the 
body, and that, in spite of impurity of life, the soul might 
not be stained; and others taught that sinful acts might 
not interfere with high spiritual states. John is therefore 
making an unqualified denial of an unmitigated lie. In 
other parts of the epistle he makes plain his understanding 
that all Christians do sin and have need of continual 


132 FIRST JOHN I John 3: 11-24 


cleansing. Here, however, he is sharply rebuking those 
who would make light of sin, or disguise its satanic char- 
acter. He does not pause to make any deductions or ob- 
vious qualifications. He declares the absolute opposition 
between sin and holiness, between lawlessness and right- 
eousness, between the ‘‘children of the devil’ and the 
“children of God.’’ Whatever difficulty may be involved 
in his particular words, he burns into our souls the truth 
that one who has his hope set on Christ will purify himself 
“even as he is pure.” 


b. Tested by Love. Ch. 3: 11-24 
11 For this is the message which ye heard from the begin- 


ning, that we should love one another: 12 not as Cain was of 


the “evil one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he 
him? Because his works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. 

13 Marvel not, brethren, if the world hateth you. 14 
We know that we have passed out of death into life, because 
we love the brethren. He that loveth not abideth in death. 
15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know 
that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. 16 Hereby 
know we love, because he laid down his life for us: and we 
ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoso 
hath the world’s goods, and beholdeth his brother in need, 


and shutteth up his compassion from him, how doth the love 


of God abide in him? 18 My little children, let us not love 
in word, neither with the tongue; but in deed and truth. 19 
Hereby shall we know that we are of the truth, and shall 
assure our heart before him: 20 because if our heart condemn 
us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. 
21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness 
toward God; 22 and whatsoever we ask we receive of him, 
because we keep his commandments and do the things that 
are pleasing in his sight. 23 And this is his commandment, 
that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, 
and love one another, even as he gave us commandment. 
24 And he that keepeth his commandments abideth in him, 
and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, 
by the Spirit which he gave us. 


The link between this section and that which precedes 
is found in the tenth verse of the chapter: ‘‘In this the 
children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: 


a 


I John 3: 11-24 CHILDREN OF GOD 133 


whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither 
he that loveth not his brother.”’ The previous paragraph 
applied to the Christian life the test of righteousness; here 
is applied the test of love. The writer regards it as an 
obvious test, for he declares that the whole message of the 
life and character of Christ was a message of love. From 
the beginning of their acquaintance with him it had been 
known by his followers that they must obey his law of 
love: ‘For this is the message which ye heard from the 
beginning, that we should love one another.’’ One who 
is a child of God will surely obey the law revealed by the . 
Son of God. 

To impress the validity of this test, the writer is about 
to dwell upon the supreme example of self-sacrifice given 
by Christ; but he first summons to our memory the darkly 
contrasting figure of Cain. The demonic nature of this 
first murderer is evinced by the motive which inspired 
his cruel deed; it was envy, one of the most subtle and 
common and deadly forms of hatred: ‘‘Cain was of the 
evil one, and slew his brother. . . Because his works were 
evil, and his brother’s righteous.’’ Therefore Christians, 
who by their righteousness show themselves children of 
God, need not be surprised at the enmity of the unbe- 
lieving world: ‘‘Marvel not, brethren, if the world hateth 
you.” Hatred is so natural and so universal, that love 
is a certain proof of the presence in one of a new life 
principle, of the experience of a new birth, of the possession 
of a new moral nature: ‘‘We know that we have passed 
out of death into life, because we love the brethren.’’ 
If one is not animated by love, then evidently he is still 
in a state of spiritual death, he has not been born of God, 
he is not a “‘child of God.’ ‘He that loveth not abideth 
in death.’’ As Christ himself taught, in his Sermon on the 
Mount, whosoever hates his brother is a murderer, for he 
is cherishing the motive which would result in the act, 
were all restraints removed and were opportunity given. 
Surely one who is so disposed cannot have the nature of 
God, cannot be a ‘‘child of God,’’ cannot have “eternal 
life’: ‘‘Ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding 
in him.” 


134 FIRST JOHN I John 3: 11-24 


In contrast with Cain, the embodiment of hatred, 
stands the radiant form of Christ, the revelation of love: 
‘Hereby know we love, because he laid down his life for 
us.’ His death ‘‘for us’”’ is not only the supreme proof of 
his love; it is the required measurement of ours: ‘“‘and we 
ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”” When 
occasion arises, when necessity demands, we ought to show 
such devotion; we owe it to others, we owe it to Christ, we 
owe it to ourselves, for thus we show ourselves to be the 
children of God. These present years are giving countless 
examples of such heroic self-sacrifice; but tests of a less 
dramatic character are ever at hand: ‘‘Whoso hath the 
world’s goods, and beholdeth his brother in need, and shut- 
teth up his compassion from him, how doth the love of 
God abide in him?” This “love of God”’ is the love which 
is of the nature of God; it is a manifestation of that new 
life which God gives to his children. Lacking this “‘love 
of God,’ how can one claim to be a child of God? Let 
love be shown then, if we are Christians, not by our 
hymns and our professions alone, nor by our admiration 
of high motives and heroic acts, but by our daily lives: 
“My little children, let us not love in word, neither with 
the tongue; but in deed and truth.” 

It is true that when we judge ourselves by these high 
standards, when we apply to ourselves the ‘‘tests’’ insisted 
upon in this epistle, we are often discouraged and our 
hearts condemn us. Nevertheless, if love has been the 
guiding principle of our lives, then, in spite of occasional 
failures and of conscious faults, we shall have confidence 
that we are the children of God, that our new birth is a 
reality, that ‘‘we are of the truth.’’ Even when our hearts 
condemn us as we are confronted with the memory of some 
great defeat, we will believe that ‘‘God is greater than our 
heart,” that he ‘‘knoweth all things,” and that he recog- 
nizes our love toward him, and our faith in Christ, and the 
reality of the new life he has implanted. Otherwise we 
could have no confidence in prayer; but when assured, 
by the test of love, that we are the children of God, then 
we speak to him with freedom, as to a loving Father, and 
then ‘‘whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because we 


I John 4: 1-6 CHILDREN OF GOD 135 


keep his commandments.” This latter does not mean 
that our prayers are answered as a reward of merit, but 
rather that keeping his commandments shows that we 
are at one with his will, and so living and praying as he 
would have us, our petitions are certain to be fulfilled. 

Speaking of ‘‘commandments,” John reminds us that 
they are all largely comprehended in the requirements to 
believe in Christ, and to love one another. The first of 
these requirements he emphasizes in the following para- 
graph; the second has been his theme in this, and he only 
pauses to insist that keeping these commandmentsis both 
a condition and a result of true fellowship with God; 
it deepens the assurance which is imparted to us by the 
Spirit of God, for “hereby we know that he abideth in us, 
by the Spirit which he gave us.” 


c. Tested by Belief. Ch. 4: 1-6 


1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, 
whether they are of God; because many false prophets are 
gone out into the world. 2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of 
God: every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come 
in the flesh is of God: 3 and every spirit that confesseth not 
Jesus is not of God: and this is the spirit of the antichrist, 
whereof ye have heard that it cometh; and now it is in the 
world already. 4 Ye are of God, my little children, and have 
overcome them: because greater is he that is in you than he 
that is in the world. 5 They are of the world: therefore 
speak they as of the world, and the world heareth them. 6 
We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he who is 
not of God heareth us not. By this we know the spirit of 
truth, and the spirit of error. 


It is noticeable that in this epistle the work of the 
Holy Spirit, or to use the title employed by John, the work 
of ‘“‘the Spirit,’ or the work of ‘“‘the Spirit of God,’’ is 
related almost exclusively to the imparting of faith and the 
inspiring of belief. Of course he has other functions; 
but John refers to him as specifically ‘‘the spirit of truth,” 
whom Jesus thus described, and of whom he said, ‘‘He 
shall guide you into all the truth’ and ‘He shall bear 
witness of me.” 


136 FIRST JOHN I John 4: 1-6 


Therefore, as in the close of the last chapter, belief ‘‘in 
the name of his Son Jesus Christ,’’ is related to the pres- 
ence of ‘‘the Spirit which he gave us,”’ so, as this chapter 
opens, the assurance that one is a child of God is based on 
the confession, inspired by the Spirit of God, that “Jesus 
Christ is come in the flesh.” 

There are manifest among men many other “‘spirits,’’ 
and many false teachers, who claim to be inspired of God; 
against these John warns his readers and declares that the 
crucial test of all teachers is their attitude toward Christ: 
‘“‘Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, 
whether they are of God;. . . every spirit that confesseth 
not Jesus is not of God.’ Those to whom John referred 
had ‘‘gone out into the world’; they had left the Church | 
and joined the society of the godless and the unbelieving; 
they claimed to be “‘spiritual,’’ to be ‘‘Christian,”’ to be 
‘divinely inspired,” but in reality their ‘‘spirit’’ was that 
of antichrist; even worse, it was the “‘spirit’’ of the 
“prince of this world,”’ the Devil. By these “‘false proph- 
ets,’ however, the readers of the epistle had not been 
led astray; as the children of God, they had been 
strengthened by the Spirit of God and had defeated ‘‘the 
spirit of error’; ‘‘Ye are of God,” writes the apostle, 
‘“‘and have overcome them: because greater is he that is 
in you than he that is in the world.’’ These “false 
prophets,’ nevertheless, were very popular; they were ‘‘of 
the world,” their spirit was in perfect sympathy with the 
spirit of the world, and as their teachings were determined 
by this spirit, they were consequently exactly such as the 
world delighted to hear. By way of contrast, John and 
his fellow apostles, claimed to be ‘‘of God,’ and to be 
guided by his Spirit; therefore the children of God re- 
ceived their testimony, which the “‘false prophets” and the 
world rejected: ‘‘We are of God: he that knoweth God 
heareth us; he who is not of God heareth us not.”” From 
all that has gone before, the apostle concludes that it is 
always possible to distinguish between truth and error; 
by the attitude toward Christ, as truly human while very 
God, every spirit can be tested, whether the spirit is that 
of a “‘false prophet,” or of an apostle, or of the humblest 


‘ 


I John 4: 1-6 CHILDREN OF GOD 137 


and most obscure believer: ‘‘Every spirit that confesseth 
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: . . . By 
this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” 

As in the days of John, so to-day many false prophets 
have “‘gone out into the world.’’ Never have there existed 
a larger number of conflicting voices claiming to teach not 
only religions but Christian truth. We need to test the 
spirits. We must remember that “‘spiritual’’ does not 
necessarily mean ‘‘holy’’; many teachers who claim to deal 
with mysteries and “visions” in realms which are beyond 
the visible and the material, many, too, who proclaim 
lofty sentiments and poetic fancies, are themselves false 
and ignorant and impure. 

Nor yet does ‘supernatural’? mean ‘‘divine.’”’ What 
John actually meant by the word “‘spirits’’ may bea matter 
of dispute; he surely implied that beings of a superhuman 
order are not therefore ‘‘of God,”’ but may be satanic and 
demonic. We live at a time when, as never before, men 
are seeking aid from “‘spirits.’’ Broken and _ bleeding 
hearts groping in the dark for comfort, longing for mes- 
sages from loved ones whom death has snatched away, 
are turning in pitiful credulity to those who claim com- 
munion with the unseen world. That the ‘“‘mediums’’ 
through whom these ‘‘messages’’ come, are usually fraudu- 
lent and deceitful, it is not difficult to prove. Even 
admitting some modicum of reality in their claims does not 
forbid the conclusion that the source of their alleged power 
is demonic. The real test which must be applied is this: 
“Every spirit that confesseth not Jesus is not of God.” 
Confronted by some things which are mysterious, threat- 
ened by countless delusions which hide under the name of 
“Christian,’’ opposed by systems of proud unbelief, we do 
well to-day to heed the warning of the apostle: ‘‘Beloved, 
believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, whether they 
are of God.” 

What strange contrasts John here sets forth: the Church 
and the world, the spirit of truth and the spirit of error, 
Christ and Satan, false prophets and inspired apostles, the 
Spirit of God and the spirit of antichrist; but the line of 
cleavage is clearly stated: there is one invariable test— 


138 FIRST JOHN I John 4: 1-6 


the attitude toward Jesus, the divine Son of God. Above 
all the problems in the world of religion and philosophy, 
there stands forth one supreme question: ‘‘What think -ye 
of Christ?”’ This furnishes the touchstone of character, 


the test of belief. the proof of spiritual life. 


I John 4; 7-21 SOURCE OF LOVE 139 


4. THE SourcE OF Love. Ch. 4:7-21 


7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; 
and every one that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth 
God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is 
love. 9 Herein was the love of God manifested in us, that 
God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world that we 
might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved 
God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son ¢o be the pro- 
pitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also 
ought to love one another. 12 No man hath beheld God at 
any time: if we love one another, God abideth in us, and his 
love is perfected in us: 13 hereby we know that we abide in 
him and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. 14 
And we have beheld and bear witness that the Father hath 
sent the Son ¢o be the Saviour of the world. 15 Whosoever 
shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in 
him, and he in God. 16 And we know and have believed the 
love which God hathin us. God is love; and he that abideth 
in love abideth in God, and God abideth in him. 17 Herein 
is love made perfect with us, that we may have boldness in 
the day of judgment; because as he.is, even so are we in this 
world. 18 There is no fear in love: but perfect love casteth 
out fear, because fear hath punishment; and he that feareth 
is not made perfect in love. 19 We love, because he first 
loved us. 20 If aman say, I love God, and hateth his brother, 
he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath 
seen, cannot love God whom he hath not seen. 21 And this 
commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God 
love his brother also. 


Twice before in the course of this epistle love has been 
treated as a test of Christian life. In the second chapter 
it was the ‘‘commandment”’ which one in fellowship with 
God would keep; in the third, it was a sign of likeness to 
the Father, which ‘‘children of God’’ would show; here it 
is a disposition which is traced to its source in the very 
nature of God as manifested in the gift of, his Son. In 
following this thought the writer reaches the profoundest 
depths and loftiest heights of his discussion. The para- 
graph is a worthy complement to the matchless “hymn of 
love’ sung by Paul in the thirteenth chapter of his Epistle 


140 FIRST JOHN I John 4: 7-21 


to the Corinthians, for it gives to the virtue which Paul 
praises its mighty motive, and finds its birth in the being 
of God. | 

From another point of view also, the epistle here reaches 
a climax and is found to be no mere series of tests by which 
a fact is discovered or on which an assurance is to be based, 
but a practical message of encouragement. It is designed 
not only to give tests of life, but to urge the fuller manifes- 
tations of that life. It is intended to secure not a mental 
verdict but a moral resolve, not a surer belief but a 
deeper experience. ‘‘Beloved,’’ writes the apostle, “‘let 
us love one another.” 

The exhortation is enforced by the statement that 
‘love is of God’’; it is therefore the supreme test both of 
being born of God and of having fellowship with God: 
“Every one that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth 
God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is 
love.’ This sublime statement as to the nature of 
God is unsurpassed in all Scripture: ‘‘God is love.” 
‘L'wice in this brief paragraph the truth is affirmed. Here 
the statement is followed by a description of the supreme 
expression of divine love: ‘‘Herein was the love of God 
manifested in us, that God hath sent his only begotten 
Son into the world that we might live through him.” 
This is in fact the expression of love in its very essence: 
‘Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved 
us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 
Thus the love of God was shown in the greatness of his 
gift: he not only sent a Saviour; he sent his own Son, 
his only Son. His love appeared further in the benefit . 
received, namely life, eternal life, for all believers: ‘‘that 
we might live through him.’”’ This was ideal, essential 
love, for it was shown toward the unworthy and unlovely. 
The love of man for God would not have been so surprising, 
but, ‘Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he 
loved us.”” This love involved an infinite cost, of sacrifice, 
of suffering and death, to secure the forgiveness of sins; 
this God provided; he ‘‘sent his Son to be the propitiation 
for our sins.”’ 

If such is the nature of God’s love, we must show that 


I John 4: 7-21 SOURCE OF LOVE 141 


we are his children by a love like his, in its disposition to- 
ward others, and in a love which finds its supreme motive 
in gratitude for the gift of his Son. First then, in passion 
for the good of others, our life must be manifested: ‘‘Be- 
loved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one an- 
other.” It is our duty, but it is the necessary expression 
of our nature, not only to love God for his goodness, but 
“‘to love one another,” for God is invisible; we can seek 
or desire to confer no benefit on him: ‘“‘No man hath 
beheld God at any time’’; but if we seek the good of others, 
then we manifest his nature: ‘‘God abideth in us, and his 
love is perfected in us.’”” We are certain that he dwells 
within, for love is the fruit of his Spirit; “hereby we know 
that we abide in him and he in us, because he hath given 
us of his Spirit.” More particularly, his Spirit is the 
Author of belief; and our love has a divine source if it is 
associated with the acceptance of Christ as our divine and 
crucified Saviour, and if this belief becomes the motive 
of our love for one another: ‘‘We have beheld and bear 
witness that the Father hath sent the Son to be the Saviour 
ofthe world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the 
Son of God, God abideth in him, and he in God.”’ In him 
we see the love of God manifested: ‘And we know and 
have believed the love which God hath in us. God is 
love; and he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God 
abideth in him.”’ 

God is love, but love is not God. Not every manifesta- 
tion of charity or kindness or benevolence or sacrifice is a 
sign of a new birth or of being a childof God. Wemust 
take our stand near the cross. When love is associated 
with faith and devotion toward Jesus the Son of God, then 
it becomes a proof of ‘‘life eternal.” 

From such love two results are certain to follow: con- 
fidence toward God, and charity toward men. If we fully 
realize the love of God revealed in Christ, we shall not 
stand in dread of God; and if this love is the principle 
of our lives we shall have no fear of judgment, for, as the 
children of God, we are in this world like Christ the Son of 
God, in our love, our confidence, our trustful relation. to 
the Father: -‘‘Herein is love made perfect with us, that we 


142 FIRST JOHN I John 4: 7-21 


may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as he 
is, even so are we in this world. There is no fear in love: 
but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath punish- 
ment; and he that feareth is not made perfect in love.” 

Quite as truly, if we realize God’s love for us, we shall 
love one another: ‘‘We love, because he first loved us.” 
Not only do we love God, but love becomes the animating 
principle of our life. This principle has its source in the 
love of God for us. It finds its natural and first expression 
in our love for one another. ‘“‘If a man say, I love God, 
and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not 
his brother whom he hath seen, cannot love God whom he 
hath not seen.”’ The test is simple and obvious. If one 
does not love his brother, then love is not ruling his life. 
It is foolish to boast of love, particularly to an unseen 
person, when love is not being shown and felt toward one 
who is seen daily, walking in the same sphere of life, to 
whom it is much more easy to express affection and 
devotion. Life cannot have two supreme motives, two 
opposing ruling principles. Love for God is inseparable 
from love for men. Hatred for men is a proof that love 
is not controlling the life; it shows one to be a liar if he is 
boasting his love for God. Christ himself taught us that 
if one is keeping the supreme commandment he will love 
God with his whole heart and his neighbor as himself: 
“This commandment have we from him, that he who loveth 
od love his brother also.”’ 


I John 5; 1-5 RIGHTEOUSNESS 143 


5. THE TRIUMPH OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. Ch. 5 :1-5 


1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is begotten 
of God: and whosoever loveth him that begat loveth him also 
that is begotten of him. 2 Hereby we know that we love the 
children of God, when we love God and do his command- 
‘ments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his com- 
mandments: and his commandments are not grievous. 4 
For whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh the world: 
and this is the victory that hath overcome the world, even 
our faith. 5 And who is he that overcometh the world, but 
he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? 


In these brief, beautiful phrases we are facing the great, 
molding thoughts of the epistle. Here the life imparted 
by God to his children is tested by righteousness, by love, 
and by belief. Here, also, appears the close relation 
between these three elements of the Christian life; love 
is shown by righteousness, and righteousness is secured by 
faith. Here, as in no previous paragraph, the way of 
keeping God’s commandments, the way of overcoming the 
world, is pointed out; here we are shown how righteous- 
ness may triumph over sin. 

We should notice, however, what is said of belief and of 
love. The former is mentioned as an absolute proof that 
one is a childof God: ‘Whosoever believeth that Jesus is 
the Christ is begotten of God.’ Here the term ‘“‘Christ”’ 
refers not only to the redeeming work of Jesus, or to his 
“anointing” by the Spirit of God for that work, but, more 
specifically, to his divine nature; it has its parallel in the 
last phrase of the fifth verse: ‘Jesus is the Son of God.”’ 
One who does not so believe is not a child of God, and has 
no right to the name of Christian; for to deny this truth 
is to manifest the Spirit of antichirst. However, it is of 
comfort and cheer to the humblest Christian to be as- 
sured that a real, intelligent belief in Christ as the Son of 
God is a positive proof of being a child of God. 

As to love, John here suggests that it is also a natural 
expression of the new life imparted by God; and he fixes 


144 FIRST JOHN ‘I John 5:1-5 


the thought again, as in the previous chapter, upon the 
fact that love to God and love to man are inseparable: 
‘Whosoever loveth him that begat loveth him also that is 
begotten of him.” It will be but natural for the child of 
God to love the children of God; this is but the instinct 
of the new birth. John adds, however, what is of vital 
importance, and what until now he has not stated with 
such clearness, namely, that love to man must be regulated 
and characterized by love and obedience to God: ‘‘Hereby 
we know that we love the children of God, when we love 
God and do his commandments.’ That is, we know that 
our love is of the right kind, we know that it is truly love, 
we know that the sentiment is worthy of the name, when 
it is in accord with love to God and submission to his will. 
There is much that is called by the name of love which is 
purely selfish, even sinful. It is well for us to be reminded 
that love must be tested by righteousness. As John had 
previously stated that love to God is inseparable from love 
to men, so here he is insisting that love to men is insepara- 
ble from love to God, and that love to God is expressed 
in doing his will: ‘‘For this is the love of God, that we keep 
his commandments.” 

Thus John reaches the heart of this paragraph, as he 
mentions the ‘“‘commandments” of God. He has spoken 
of belief and of love; he now treats of righteousness and 
its possible triumph. ‘His commandments” he affirms, 
“are not grievous.” They are not too hard to obey; 
they are not unreasonable in their demands; for he gives 
the grace needed for their fulfillment. Of course difficul- 
ties are involved; effort is required; John does not deny 
this. Any man who resolves to obey God will have con- 
tinual opposition. ‘The world’’ does not love God or his 
commandments; its maxims, its principles, its ideals, its 
spirit, are all contrary to his will. For the Christian, con- 
flict is certain; but victory is likewise assured; the 
divine energy imparted by God is mightier than the power 
of the world: “For whatsoever is begotten of God over- 
cometh the world.’’ The weapon which secures the vic- 
tory is faith. For the believer, the triumph is regarded as 
already won: “‘and this is the victory that hath overcome 


John 5: 1-5 RIGHTEOUSNESS 145 


the world, even our faith.’’ This is true potentially, 
and in principle, but practically the battle must be fought 
out in daily experiences. When one has put his trust in 
Christ he is once and for all on the side of victory; but as 
the unbelieving world continually assaults him, he must 
continually depend upon Christ for strength and _ for 
triumph. It is of interest to notice that this is the only 
place where the word ‘‘faith” is found, not only in this 
epistle but in all the writings of John. The verb ‘‘believe’”’ 
is frequent. Possibly it may be the purpose of John to 
call attention to the object of ‘faith’ or to the content of 
belief, for he at once adds: ‘‘And who is he that overcometh 
the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of 
God.” It does matter what one believes relative to Jesus 
Christ; yet moral victory is secured not by the acceptance 
of certain truths about Christ, but by a definite act of 
faith in which the whole being is committed to him, in 
obedience and trust and love. 


146 FIRST JOHN I John 5:6-12 


6. Tue Grounps or Breuer. Ch. 5 :6-12 


6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus 
Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and 
with the blood. 7 And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, 
because the Spirit is the truth. 8 For there are three who 
bear witness, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and 
the three agree in one. 9 If we receive the witness of men, 
the witness of God is greater: for the witness of God is this, 
that he hath borne witness concerning his Son. 10 He that 
believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in him: he that 
believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he hath 
not believed in the witness that God hath borne concerning 
his Son. 11 And the witness is this, that God gave unto us 
eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the 
Son hath the life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not 
the life. 


Having declared that victory over the world is secured 
by faith in Jesus as the divine Son of God, John proceeds 
to show the grounds on which such a belief is based. 
Among these he includes (a) historic facts, (6) divine 
testimony, (c) Christian experience. 

a. The first proof, then, that Jesus is the Son of God is 
found in the gospel narrative. The works and words of 
Christ, together with the interpretation which he placed 
upon his person and mission, warrant such a belief. These 
facts are all summed up and symbolized in two significant 
events of his career, in his baptism and his crucifixion: 
“This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus 
Christ.”’ It will be remembered that while the body 
of Jesus was still hanging on the cross, after his Spirit had 
departed, ‘‘one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his 
side, and straightway there came out blood and water.”’ 
Whatever mystery may have been involved, the fact seems 
to have impressed John most deeply; he alone of the Gos- 
pel writers narrates the event and he does so in terms 
which indicate his view of its signal importance. To him 
it was, for whatever reason, a proof of the divine nature 


I John 5: 6-12 GROUNDS OF BELIEF 147 


of his Lord, and he records it that this readers ‘‘may 
believe.’’ So here, in his epistle, he refers to ‘‘the water” 
and “‘the blood” as summarizing and symbolizing the whole 
gospel narrative. In the water of baptism and in the blood 
of his cross, Christ was manifested as the Saviour of the 
world; he appeared as the One who could meet the world’s 
need of cleansing and of pardon, of new spiritual life and of 
atonement for sin. Then, also, at his baptism he heard 
the voice of the Father saying: ‘“This is my beloved Son’’; 
and at the crucifixion, when the spear was thrust into his 
side, John saw the fulfillment of the prophecy which con- 
cerned the divine Christ: ‘They shall look on him whom 
they pierced.’”’ Thus the baptism and the crucifixion, 
with all that they included and indicated, were proofs that 
‘Jesus is the Son of God.”’ 

John specially emphasizes the crucifixion: ‘Not with the 
water only, but with the water and with the blood.”’ He 
was probably seeking to rebuke the heretics of his day, who 
were attempting to separate between the human Jesus and 
the heavenly “Christ.” They held that the divine 
Being, ‘Christ,’ came upon Jesus at the baptism but 
left him just before his crucifixion. John affirms that the 
Being who was baptized was identical with the Being who 
was crucified; he was the Son of God, both in his life and 
in hisdeath. A similar error needs to be met to-day, as it 
appears in a double aspect: first, in those who deny the 
divine person of our Lord, as they attempt to distinguish 
between ‘‘Jesus’”’ and ‘‘the Christ’’; and, second, in those 
who deny the atoning work of our Lord, as they praise 
his power to purify and ennoble life, but refuse to regard 
his death as a sacrifice for sin. We need to-day this mes- 
sage of John: ‘‘Not with the water only, but with the water 
and with the blood.” First of all, then, Christian faith 
is founded on historic facts. 

b. The second ground of belief is found in the witness of 
the Holy Spirit: ‘‘And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, 
because the Spirit is the truth.’’ Here we may seem to be 
entering the realm of mystery; but the teaching of Scrip- 
ture is clear. Christian belief is described as an inspira- 
tion of the divine Spirit. His office is to testify to that 


148 FIRST JOHN I John 5:6-12 


which is true, and particularly concerning Jesus Christ: 
“The Spirit is the truth.” No one may have direct con- 
sciousness of his presence or testimony; on the other hand 
no one can really believe in the divine Christ without the 
aid and the illumination of the Spirit of God. Christian 
belief is not due merely to mental deductions drawn from 
the facts of the gospel. Our faith is never the ground of 
boasting. When one confesses his faith, he is reminded 
that ‘‘Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but 
my Father who is in heaven.”’ However, the two are 
commonly inseparable, and they unite to establish the one 
fact; the gospel narrative and the divine Spirit combine 
in producing belief. The Spirit agrees with the water and 
the blood in testifying to this one great truth, that ‘‘Jesus 
is the Son of God’’; ‘‘For there are three who bear witness, 
the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and the three 
agree in one.’ The Spirit employs the word of Christ, 
but also the sacraments of the Church, to inspire and sus- 
tain our faith. It is not strange that believers, through 
all the centuries, have found references to baptism and the 
Lord’s Supper in the words ‘‘the water’ and ‘‘the blood.” 
These ordinances the Spirit employs to set forth the cleans- 
ing and atoning work of Christ and the new life he imparts; 
they are his witnesses to the divine person and work of the 
Son of God. 

c. This testimony of the inspired gospel and of the divine 
Spirit are designated by John “‘the witness of God’’, and 
if, in human courts, concurrent testimony of accredited 
witnesses is accepted, much more should we be convinced 
bysuch divine attestation of the sonshipof Christ: “If we 
receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater.” 
However John adds a third ground of belief, namely, 
Christian experience: ‘‘He that believeth on the Son of 
God hath the witness in him.”” Faith may be regarded by 
some as a great venture: but one who casts himself wholly 
upon Christ, one who not only believes statements about 
him, but who believes ‘‘on’’ him, comes to possess a direct 
and deepening consciousness that the object of his trust 
is none other than a divine Saviour. He has a sense of 
cleansing and pardon, of acceptance with God, of peace and 


I John 5:6-12 GROUNDS OF BELIEF 149 


power and victory, and this experimental knowledge of 
Christ confirms the belief that he is indeed ‘‘the Son of 
God.” 

With the trust, which becomes a deepening conviction, 
in the deity of Christ, John contrasts the unbelief which 
rejects the testimony to his divine sonship. Such unbe- 
lief makes God a liar. To reject the inspired gospel, to 
resist the Spirit of truth, is to accuse God of falsehood, 
to suspect him of deceit: ‘He that believeth not God hath 
hath made him a liar; because he hath not believed in 
the witness that God hath borne concerning his Son.” 

This, then, is the very sum and essence of the divine 
testimony, namely, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and 
it is, therefore, the full and perfect manifestation of eternal 
life, so that, in giving us his Son, God really imparted to 
us this life: ‘‘And the witness is this, that God gave unto 
us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.’’ Belief in Jesus 
Christ as the Son of God is a proof that one possesses this 
life, it is the sign that he has experienced a new birth, it 
is a witness that he is a child of God: ‘‘He that hath the 
Son hath the life; he that hath not the Son of God hath 
not the life.” 


150 FIRST JOHN = _I John 5: 13-21 - 


7. CHRISTIAN CERTAINTIES. Ch. 5 : 13-21 


13 These things have I written unto you, that ye may know 
that ye have eternal life, even unto you that believe on the 
name of the Son of God. 14 And this is the boldness which 
we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to 
his will, he heareth us: 15 and if we know that he heareth us 
whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which 
we have asked of him. 16 If any man see his brother sinning 
a sin not unto death, he shall ask, and God will give him life 
for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: 
not concerning this do I say that he should make request. 
17 All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto deaths 

18 We know that whosoever is begotten of God sinneth 
not; but he that was begotten of God keepeth himself, and 
the evil one toucheth him not. 19 We know that we are of 
God, and the whole world lieth in the evil one. 20 And we 
know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an under- 
standing, that we know him that is true, and we are in him 
that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true 
God, and eternal life. 21 My little children, guard yourselves 
from idols. 


Christianity is a religion of certainties, of assured con- 
victions, of definite beliefs. Thus, as John brings his 
Epistle to a close, he mentions some of those realities as 
to which believers have confident assurance. 

The first of these is the possession of eternal life: ‘“These 
things have I written unto you, that ye may know that 
ye have eternal life, even unto you that believe on the name 
of the Son of God.” The immediate reference is to the 
verses which precede; but the statement is properly 
taken as expressing the supreme purpose of the whole 
epistle. It has furnished a series of tests by which one 
could be assured that he possessed eternal life. The assur- 
ance is not mystical or emotional, but a rational conclusion 
based upon certain plain facts. These are chiefly right- 
eousness, love, and belief. The last of these has just been 
emphasized, and therefore the apostle adds, ‘‘Even unto 


I John 5: 13-21 CERTAINTIES 151 


you that believe on the name of the Son of God.”” Those 
who believe are assured that, for them, ‘‘eternal life’ is a 
present possession. This term includes the idea of future, 
immortal blessedness; but the element of duration is less 
prominent than that of moral character. ‘‘Eternal life’’ 
is the very life of God, the life manifested in Christ, and 
therefore, in believers, a life like that of Christ. It is 
given now, in its beginning, by the imparting of a new life 
principle; but it expands and develops until when he 
“shall be manifested,’”’ then, in fuller perfection, ‘‘we shall 
be like him; for we shall see him even as he is.”’ 

Closely related to this assurance of life is confidence in 
prayer: ‘‘And this is the boldness which we have toward 
him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he 
heareth us: and if we know that he heareth us whatsoever 
we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have 
asked of him.’”’ Prayer, therefore, is no mere empty form, 
it is not an impertinence, it is not irrational. It isa power 
whereby the will of God is brought to pass. It is humble 
and trustful in spirit. Its highest expression is in the 
words: ‘‘Not my will, ‘but thine, be done.’’ When the 
request is according to the will of God, ‘‘we have the peti- 
tion’”’ even now, for it already exists in the divine purpose 
and plan, and is certain to be realized in time. Whatever 
mysteries and perplexities may be involved in the problem 
of prayer, the child of God comes with boldness to make his 
requests known unto the Father. 

One special exercise of the blessed ministry of inter- 
cession is mentioned by John: it is prayer for the spiritual 
restoration of a brother who has fallen into sin. But here 
an exception is made: a believer is not encouraged to pray 
with confidence for the deliverance of one who is guilty of 
“sin . . . unto death.’’ The reference seems to be to 
those whom John has called antichrists, those who willfully 
and persistently deny the claims of Christ, who turn away 
from him and from the Christian communion, and pro- 
fessedly deny ‘‘the Father and the Son.” The passage 
may be difficult but its main purpose is plain, namely, 
to encourage us to fearless and sympathizing prayer for 
every believer who has been overtaken by a fault. 


152 FIRST JOHN I john 5: 13-21 


John next mentions three great verities which are 
included in Christian belief; they are named almost as 
the articles of a creed, each introduced by the confident 
phrase: ‘“‘We know.” (a) The reality, the possibility, 
the absolute necessity of righteousness, is set forth. ‘“‘We 
know that whosoever is begotten of God sinneth not.” 
Thus John rebukes the Christian who is careless of con- 
duct, and the cynic who sneers at virtue. However, he 
also warns the believer that he is fighting a sleepless foe, 
and that victory can be secured only by ceaseless effort; 
but it can be secured: ‘‘he that was begotten of God keep- 
eth himself, and the evil one toucheth him not.”’ 

(b) The reality of the ‘‘new birth’ is next declared: 
‘‘We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth 
in the evil one.” The believer does possess a life which 
God himself has imparted: it may be undeveloped, but it 
consists in a principle and germ which forever separate 
and distinguish him from the whole unbelieving. world 
that lies in the power of the Evil One. 

(c) ‘‘We know that the Son of God is come.” We 
believe in the divine mission of Jesus Christ. If life has 
been imparted, if righteousness is possible, it is because 
we have come to know God, and to enjoy fellowship with 
God as he has been revealed to us “‘in his Son Jesus Christ.”’ 

Finally John makes a comprehensive affirmation and 
adds an affectionate word of warning: ‘This is the true 
God,’”’ this God whom Christ has revealed, and he is 
“eternal life,”’ its Source, its Sustainer, and its Perfecter. 
It is his gift. 

Therefore, ‘‘little children, guard yourselves from idols,”’ 
from all the vain conceptions of God held among men, from 
all human substitutes for God, from all that might turn 
you from God; for he is perfectly manifested in Jesus 


Christ, his Son. 


SECOND EPISTLE OF JOHN 153 


THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
JOHN 


Hospitality is variously regarded as a “‘fine art,” a 
joyous privilege, an unwelcome necessity, or an oppor- 
tunity for display. New Testament writers emphasize its 
importance as a Christian grace, and as a species of 
evangelistic service. It forms the subject of two inspired 
letters, the Second Epistle and the Third Epistle of John. 
These are, it is true, very short letters, and they do con- 
tain other messages; but the supreme purpose of II John 
is to caution Christians against extending hospitality to 
certain enemies of the Church, while III John was written 
to commend a Christian’ for his generous hospitality to 
representatives of the apostle who were traveling evangel- 
ists. 

It is easy to understand why, in the days of the early 
Church, this was a matter of such deep concern. The 
proper use of hospitality conditioned the spread of the 
gospel. This was an age of travel. Christians were mov- 
ing about continually, over the superb Roman roads, either 
on private business or as missionary workers. Places of 
entertainment, however, were difficult to find. The hotel 
is a comparatively modern institution. Ancient inns were 
not usually of good repute. Frequently these travelers 
were poor; in any event, they hesitated to place themselves 
under obligations to unbelievers. It was necessary, there- 
fore,. that Christians should open their homes and wel- 
come as guests many strangers, especially such as came 
to them bearing the adored ‘‘Name.” It is evident that 
such hospitality was a direct and potent means of further- 
ing the gospel and of extending the influence of the Church. 
It is also evident that this hospitality was open to abuse, 
not only by improvident and unworthy travelers, but 
particularly by false teachers who, under the guise of a 
Christian profession, concealed their real opposition to the 
Christian faith, and endeavored to corrupt and pervert 


154 SECOND EPISTLE OF JOHN 


the doctrines taught by the apostles. Asa warning against 
such heretical teachers and against such an abuse of hos- 
pitality this letter was written. 

It was penned, however, in no spirit of narrowness or. 
harshness or bigotry. Its characteristic word is “‘love’’; 
it breathes the broadest charity; and it reiterates that 
“old commandment” which Christ has made new: ‘‘that 
we love one another.”’ Still, there is a second word which 
is hardly less prominent and no less vital: it is the word 
“‘truth.”’ Love must not be allowed to lapse into senti- 
mental softness and weak indifference, particularly when 
truth is at stake. False teachers are not to be counte- 
nanced and courted and publicly entertained. 

The particular form of error propagated by those to 
whom the writer refers, relates to the person of Christ. 
It denies that he was truly God and truly man, in the 
mystery of his unique being. One who held such perverted 
and ‘‘advanced”’ doctrine is declared by John to be ‘“‘the 
deceiver and the antichrist.’’ Such a public and profes- 
sional teacher of error was not to be received into a Chris- 
tian home. He was to be given no greeting, lest, by 
courtesy and hospitality, support might be afforded to 
his evil cause. Such is the burden of this brief epistle; 
and it closes with the expressed hope that at no distant 
date the writer may himself be welcomed by those Chris- 
tian friends to whom the letter is being sent. 

The outline of the epistle is as follows: 


1. The Salutation. II John 1-3. 
2. The Counsel and Warning. Vs. 4-11. 
3. The Conclusion. Vs. 12, 13. 

a. The Promised Visit. V. 12. 

b, The Closing Greeting, V, 13. 


II John 1-3 THE SALUTATION 155 


1. THE SALUTATION. II John 1-3 


1 The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I 
love in truth; and not I only, but also all they that know the 
truth; 2 for the truth’s sake which abideth in us, and it shall 
be with us for ever: 3 Grace, mercy, peace shall be with us, 
from God the Father, and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the 
Father, in truth and love. 


It seems certain that this charming little letter comes to 
us from the hand of John, ‘“‘the disciple whom Jesus 
loved.” In his First Epistle he has embodied substantially 
eight of these thirteen verses, while the style and the sub- 
ject matter are evidently his own. He calls himself 
simply ‘‘the elder,’ which indicates marked humility in 
one who was the most eminent member of the Christian 
Church, one who might have styled himself, at least, 
“the apostle.’”’ This modest title, however, may carry 
with it the suggestion of age, for the writer has outlived 
all his fellow apostles, and his words are weighty with the 
experiences of years; and, further, the word “‘elder’’ 
designated a high office in the Christian communion and 
was claimed by Peter as a mark of distinction. It may 
thus be concluded that John writes with the authority 
of age, of official position, and of a personal knowledge of 
Christ. 

“The elect lady,”’ to whom the letter is addressed may 
have been, as most modern scholars suppose, not an in- 
dividual but a church, not a person but a Christian society. 
This conjecture, however, cannot be definitely established. 
Moreover, the obvious meaning of Scripture is usually 
the correct meaning and there is nothing in the simple 
content of the letter actually to discredit the popular 
view that the phrase denotes some Christian woman of 
distinguishing gifts and graces. ‘“‘Her children’ are 
united with her in the salutation, so that, in either case, 
it is evident that in this epistle more persons than one are 
addressed. Nor is the question of supreme importance 


156 SECOND JOHN = Itjohn 1-3 


for it becomes evident that a message is herein contained 
which is applicable to all Christians and to all churches. 

For this household or Christian society John expresses 
his true affection, which he declares is felt also by all who 
hold the truth, as it springs from a common faith. It is 
indeed this united acceptance of Christian verities which 
ever forms the firm basis of abiding friendships. Such 
friendships will endure; for this fellowship with the truth 
is imperishable: ‘‘it shall be with us for ever.”’ 

The three terms which form the substance of the greet- 
ing, ‘“‘grace, mercy, peace,’ appear in the opening formula 
of other epistles, and because of their familiarity are in 
danger of losing their deep significance. They include 
all the blessings known to believers, from their source in 
the ‘‘unmerited favor’ of God, to their ultimate issue in 
the peace ‘‘which passeth all understanding.’ Here the 
enjoyment of these blessings is not, as usual, the substance 
of a prayer, but of a prediction: “‘shall be with us’; it is 
ascribed to the Father but also to Jesus Christ, who is here 
designated as ‘‘the Son of the Father’; it is conditioned 
upon a right state of mind and heart, ‘‘in truth and love’; 
for the experience is only for those who accept Christ as 
the divine Son of God, and walk in love toward him and 
toward their fellow men. Thus “truth and love,’ which 
do not commonly occur in opening salutations, are the dis- 
tinguishing words in this greeting; and significantly so, 
for they are the essential words of the epistle which follows. 


II John 4-11 COUNSEL AND WARNING 157 


2. THE COUNSEL AND WARNING. Vs. 4-11 


4 I rejoice greatly that I have found certain of thy children 
walking in truth, even as we received commandment from the 
Father. 5 And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I 
wrote to thee a new commandment, but that which we had 
from the beginning, that we love one another. 6 And this 
is love, that we should walk after his commandments. This 
is the commandment, even as ye heard from the beginning, 
that ye should walk in it. 7 For many deceivers are gone 
forth into the world, even they that confess not that Jesus 
Christ cometh in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the 
antichrist. 8 Look to yourselves, that ye lose not the things 
which we have wrought, but that ye receive afull reward. 9 
Whosoever goeth onward and abideth not in the teaching of 
Christ, hath not God: he that abideth in the teaching, the 
same hath both the Fatherandthe Son. 10If any one cometh 
unto you, and bringeth not this teaching, receive him not 
into your house, and give him no greeting: 11 for he that 
giveth him greeting partaketh in his evil works. 


The letter opens, like many of Paul’s epistles, with an 
expression of joy in the consistent life of Christian believers. 
The writer has found certain men in the Church, certain 
“children” of ‘‘the elect lady”? to whom the letter is writ- 
ten, ‘‘walking in truth,” that is to say, ‘‘actually’’, or 
“really,” as God has commanded. Surely no pastor has a 
more exalted cause for rejoicing than to find such true life 
manifested by the members of his flock. 

To encourage such living on the part of his readers, John 
exhorts them to Christian love, which, in one sense, is not 
“a new commandment,”’ for it was strikingly set forth in 
the law of Moses; yet, in another sense it is “new,” for 
Christ has given a new standard and a new example and 
a new motive to love. John further reminds us that the 
real exercise of love will result in keeping all the com- 
mandments of God: ‘‘And this is love, that we should 
walk after his commandments.’ Love is ever the ful- 
filling of the law. Obedience finds its motive in love, 


158 SECOND JOHN ‘TI John 4-11 


obedience is the fruit of love. ‘‘That ye should walk in 
it’ has ever been the commandment for all Christians. 
Right living is certain to result from love. 

John has been led thus to encourage the exercise of love, 
because love so realized in life will be a safeguard against 
error. It will not prevent one from opposing error. 
Christian love should not make one indifferent to Chris- 
tian truth, for if this truth is lost, love will lack its motive 
and its form. Thus John comes to the very heart of his 
message in the warning against the false teachers, many in | 
number, who are endangering the faith and so the life of 
believers. 

They were once nominal members of the Church but 
have “‘gone forth into the world’”’; in every age the most 
dangerous of all delusions and denials of truth have come 
from those who have been acquainted with Christianity, 
who have claimed to hold many of its doctrines, who 
have cloaked themselves under its name, who have used its 
phrases, who even have followed its forms. 

These false teachers are called “‘deceivers,’’ for they lead 
to false living as well as to false views of truth. Belief and 
life are inseparable. Faith always manifests itself in 
works. Corrupt doctrine inevitably results in corrupt 
morals. The vital error of these ‘‘deceivers’ related to 
the person of Christ. They denied that he is at once 
truly man and truly God. They were the first in the long 
line of heretics who, under various names, have refused 
to accept this cardinal truth of Christianity. There is 
something very striking in the phrase used by John: 
“They confess not that Jesus Christ cometh in the flesh.” 
The divine humanity ever ccntinues and will again be 
manifest; but were Christ only a man, then his claims were 
untrue, his death also would have no saving power. No- 
thing could be more fatal than to deny either his true 
humanity or his essential deity. 

Such teachers John condemns in unsparing terms. One 
who advocates their errors is declared to be not only a 
deceiver of men, but also an enemy of Christ. He is 
animated by the spirit of that last great deceiver of man- 
kind, that ‘‘man of sin,’’ that ‘‘antichrist,’’ who will yet 


II John 4-11 COUNSEL AND WARNING 159 


appear to oppose himself to God, and to be destroyed by 
the personal appearing of the returning, divine, victorious 
Christ. Because of the presence and the perilous influence 
of such false teachers, Christians need to be on their guard 
lest they lose the faith and the hope and the love which 
have come to them through the labors of true teachers; 
they need to watch and to persevere that, when Christ 
appears, they may receive for their steadfastness a full and 
complete reward. 

Such watchfulness is the more necessary because these 
teachers make proud claims of being ‘‘advanced”’ and 
“‘progressive’”’ and “‘leaders of new thought’’; whereas, in 
fact, those who deny the teachings of Christ about his 
person and his saving work have fallen back into darkness, 
and have lost nothing less than God himself, for one cannot 
know God or live in a vital relation to him or enjoy 
conscious fellowship with him, in case he rejects the 
revelation which God has made of himself in Christ. It 
is far better to seem ‘‘behind the times’’ than to be without 
the truth. True progress consists in retaining the realities 
which the past has assured, and in growing in the knowl- 
edge of Christ. His teachings cannot be contradicted or 
abandoned as out of date. They may be explored and 
explained and applied, but they set limits of revealed 
truth which noone may disregard: ‘‘He that abideth in the 
teaching, the same hath both the Father and the Son.” 

These false teachers are the more dangerous because 
they often move in the best circles of society, and are of 
pleasing personality, and claim the name of “Christian.” 
Their presence at public gatherings, their participation in 
social and civic movements, raise questions of extreme 
difficulty and delicacy. The advice of John is uncompro- 
mising; “Ifany onecometh unto you, and bringeth not this 
teaching, receive him not into your house, and give him no 
greeting: for he that giveth him greeting partaketh in his 
evil works.’’ We should note at once, however, that the 
reference here is to teachers who claimed to be official and 
authoritative, and to such treatment of them as plainly 
would indicate sympathy with their errors and support of 
their professed efforts to overthrow fundamental truth. 


160 SECOND JOHN II John 4-11 


John does not forbid ordinary courtesy, he aoes not encour- 
age impoliteness or churlishness or unkindness or cruelty. 
It must be remembered that the provision of hospitality 
was, in the days of the early Church, a definite means of 
furthering the gospel; but it might quite as easily be used 
to help in the spread of error. It is against such a wrong 
use of hospitality that John here protests. He means that 
professional, recognized teachers of heresy are not to be 
aided in their efforts, are not to be recognized as entitled 
to support, are not to be so welcomed and greeted as to be 
encouraged in their work. ‘Truth is not to be sacrificed 
even in the name of love. 


II John 12, 13 THE CONCLUSION 161 


3. THE CONCLUSION. Vs. 12, 13 


12 Having many things to write unto you, I would not 
write them with paper and ink: but I hope to come unto 
you, and to speak face to face, that your joy may be made 
full. 13 The children of thine elect sister salute thee. 


John has given his counsel of Christian love, he has 
sounded his warning against compromising essential 
truth; he now adds that there are many other matters, 
of real importance to his readers, which he would gladly 
communicate; however, he finds writing with paper and 
ink to be unsatisfactory, and he is consoled with the expec- 
tation of an approaching visit when he can speak with his 
friends ‘‘face to face’; he is certain that they will share in 
his joy at such a meeting. 

Possibly it is reassuring to Christians of the present day 
to remember that they have apostolic sympathy in their 
dissatisfaction with pen and ink as means of communicat- 
ing with those they love. Surely there is much that is 
more satisfying in speaking ‘“‘face to face,’’ or as we should 
say, “heart to heart.’”’ However, even a letter is prefer- 
able to complete isolation, and surely the world would be 
much poorer had the aged apostle refrained from sending 
to his friends this epistle which tells us that we are to walk 
in love and to abide in the truth, if we are to enjoy grace 
and mercy and peace “from God the Father, and from 
Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father.’’ The final saluta- 
tion is from the members of a household or church related 
to those to whom the epistle has been penned, and it adds 
another touch to the assurance of fellowship which all 
enjoy who are united in their acceptance of Christian 
truth. 


162 THIRD EPISTLE OF JOHN 


THE THIRD EPISTLE OF 
JOHN 


This precious little fragment of the past may well 
engage our thoughtful review, for it contains pen portraits 
from the Apostolic Age which the passing of centuries has 
not dimmed, which reflect the life of the early Church, 
and which bring to Christians of every age and land mes- 
sages of encouragement and warning and cheer. 

The first of the portraits is that of Gaius, apparently a 
wealthy householder, whose Christian faith has been shown 
by his generosity toward his Christian friends and particu- 
larly by the hospitality he has shown to certain traveling 
evangelists or preachers. These brethren were strangers 
to him; but ‘“‘for the sake of the Name’”’ he has received 
them into his own home, and this, too, in spite of evident 
opposition from a prominent member of the Church who 
attempted to prevent this exercise of Christian courtesy. 
To him the aged Apostle John writes this letter, to com- 
mend him for his gracious hospitality and to encourage 
him to speed these visiting messengers on their journey, 
and that, too, ina manner “‘worthily of God,” and worthily 
of their sacrifice and worthily of their high service. The 
picture of Gaius is thus that of a consistent, spiritual, 
charitable believer, who by the grace of hospitality is 
strengthening the Church and furthering the gospel of 
Christ. 

The second portrait is that of Diotrephes, a man whose 
pride of place and pride of intellect threaten to wreck the 
peace and prosperity of the Christian communion. In 
his presumptuous self-confidence, he has opposed the teach- 
ing and the authority of the aged and revered apostle. 
He has given no heed to the message of John, he has at- 
tacked him maliciously ‘‘with wicked words,” he has re- 
fused hospitality to his messengers, and has attempted to 
exclude from the Church those who were to receive these 
messengers into their homes. It is a pitiful picture of 


THIRD EPISTLE OF JOHN 163 


overweening ambition, of conceit, of arrogance, of tyranny, 
and of the love and abuse of power. 

There is a third sketch. It is of one, Demetrius, who 
appears to be the bearer of the letter, a man held in uni- 
versal esteem by his fellow Christians, whose life accords 
with his profession, who has the special commendation of 
the inspired Apostle John. 

Underneath these last two pictures John writes a signifi- 
cant motto: ‘Beloved, imitate not that which is evil, but 
that which is good.” 

Such are the three pen portraits contained in this little 
letter; but in sketching them the writer has drawn uncon- 
sciously a picture of himself. We see him bending under 
the weight of years, burdened with the care of the churches, 
sustained by love for Christ and his cause, comforted by 
the sympathy and devotion of faithful friends, zealous for 
the spread of the gospel, boldly rebuking error and ready 
to discipline offenders, but tender in his affections and 
confident in the triumph of truth. 

No less striking is the picture of the early Church which 
the epistle portrays. It appears as a household of breth- 
ren, united by bonds of Christian love, separated from the 
unbelieving world, extending its influence by unselfish 
service and by gracious hospitality, not free, however, 
from the perils of ambition and jealousy and faction among 
its members, but guarded and guided by men of apostolic 
gifts and graces, strong in love, rejoicing in truth, devoted 
to Christ. 

The letter might be outlined as follows: 


. The Salutation and the Writer’s Joy. III John 1-4. 
. The Praise of Gaius. Vs. 5-8. 
. The Condemnation of Diotrephes. Vs. 9, 10. 
. The Commendation of Demetrius. Vs. 11, 12. 
. The Conclusion. Vs. 13, 14. 
a. The Promised Visit. 
b. Greetings. 


On em WN 


164 THIRD JOHN ITI John 1-4 


1. THE SALUTATION AND THE WRITER’S JOY. 
III John 1-4 


1 The elder unto Gaius the beloved, whom I love in truth. 
2 Beloved, I pray that in all things thou mayest prosper 
and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. 3 For I re- 
joiced greatly, when brethren came and bare witness unto 
thy truth, even as thou walkest in truth. 4 Greater joy have 
I none than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth. 


The aged Apostle John, long a prisoner on Patmos, now 
laboring in Ephesus and burdened with the care of the 
churches of Asia, had much to cause him anxiety, sorrow, 
and disappointment; he was sustained, however, by his 
invincible faith in Christ, he was comforted by close human 
friendships, and most of all was he cheered by learning of 
the loyal and consistent lives of those who, as a result of 
his ministry, had been turned from paganism to become 
fruitful and helpful servants of the Lord. Among the 
latter was Gaius, to whom this letter was addressed. The 
name is familiar, and appears in three other New Testa- 
ment passages; but it is unnecessary, if not impossible, to 
identify this Gaius with any one of the Christian disciples 
who bore the same name. Probably all that can be learned 
of him is contained in the few verses which follow. He 
seems to have been a man of considerable wealth, prominent 
in the church to which he belonged, faithful to his Christian 
profession, and specially to be commended for the hospi- 
tality he had shown to traveling evangelists who repre- 
sented John and the Church. 

The “salutation” addressed to him is unusually brief; 
but John, who styles himself ‘‘the elder,” calls Gaius ‘‘the 
beloved,” and declares that he loves him “‘in truth.” 
Even so brief a greeting thus contains the two words 
which characterize the Second and the Third, Epistle of 
John, namely, “truth” and “love.” The accent upon 
these words differs slightly in the two letters, but by them 
the letters are molded and united. In the second letter, 


III John 1-4 WRITER'S JOY 165 


while love is enjoined, there is warning against a weak 
tolerance of those who denied the truth; in this Third 
Epistle, love is praised for its exercise toward those whoa 
proclaimed the truth. The Second Epistle condemns the 
departure from the truth which is known as “heresy’’; 
the Third Epistle condemns the lack of love among pro- 
fessing Christians which results in ‘“‘schism.”’ 

If the salutation is brief, its real content is enlarged by 
the prayer which immediately follows and which takes the 
place of the more usual greeting of ‘‘grace, mercy, peace.’’ 
This prayer is quite extraordinary in its content. In the 
opening of no other New Testament epistle is there recorded 
a petition for temporal blessings and for physical health: 
“Beloved, I pray that in all things thou mayest prosper 
and be in health.’’ It would appear that Gaius had 
been ill. What is specially remarkable, however, is the 
measure of prosperity which John proposes: ‘‘even as 
thy soul prospereth.”’ The prayer is that the temporal pros- 
perity of Gaius may be as great as his spiritual welfare and 
that his body may be as well as his soul. Few of us dare 
offer that prayer; by most Christians the terms need to be 
reversed. The proof of his spiritual prosperity is found 
in the report which has come of the generosity shown by 
Gaius. This fact is also the warrant for the prayer: 
Gaius has already made such a wise use of his temporal 
blessings that the apostle feels justified in asking that his 
resources may be enlarged, as he also prays that his health 
may be improved. 

Such a report of the faithful stewardship of Gaius has 
afforded to John the greatest joy. The news has been 
brought by fellow Christians who seem to have come, not 
once only, but from time to time, with the same tidings. 
The substance of their message is declared by John to be 
a ‘witness unto thy truth,” by which he means that they 
are testifying to the fact that Gaius is showing his accept- 
ance of Christian truth by his Christian life, he is mani- 
festing his faith by his works, or as John adds, ‘‘even as 
thou walkest in truth,’’ that is, consistently, ‘‘truly.’’ 

The word “thou” is emphatic; it implies a contrast: 
there are others whose walk does not correspond to their 


s 


166 THIRD JOHN IIT John 1-4 


words; they are not loyal to their profession of faith; 
from their opposition both Gaius and John have suffered; 
of these the apostle will speak later; but he now wishes 
to express to Gaius the extreme gratification which his 
fidelity to the truth has occasioned: ‘‘Greater joy have 
I none than this, to hear of my children walking in the 
truth.”’” By his “children” John of course means those 
believers who have been brought into the Christian life 
by his influence. Nothing gives him greater gladness than 
to learn that such are ‘walking in the truth.” John 
alone uses the last phrase in the New Testament; but the 
idea is familiar. It denotes living in the sphere of revealed 
truth, allowing it to dominate and to control the mind 
and the soul, to mold the character and to determine all 
choices and all acts. Surely no greater joy could be 
experienced by a Christian worker than to learn that those 
whom he has brought to Christ are thus “‘walking in the 
truth.” 


III John 5-8 THE PRAISE OF GAIUS 167 


2. THE PRAISE OF GAtus. Vs. 5-8 


5 Beloved, thou doest a faithful work in whatsoever thou 
doest toward them that are brethren and-strangers withal; 
6 who bare witness to thy love before the church: whom 
thou wilt do well to set forward on their journey worthily of 
God: 7 because that for the sake of the Name they went 
forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles. 8 We therefore ought 
to welcome such, that we may be fellow-workers for the truth. 


The act which occasioned this letter, and which John 
specially desires to praise, is that of extending hospitality 
to certain missionaries who had been sent from Ephesus 
to minister to the church cf which Gaius was a member. 
It is easily understood how necessary it was for Christians, 
in that age particularly, to exercise the grace of hospitality, 
and how greatly this grace tended to further the gospel. 
For two reasons, however, Gaius was to be specially com- 
mended: first, because the itinerant preachers whom he 
had welcomed to his home were total strangers to him; 
and, secondly, because his kindness made him the object 
of criticism and opposition and ill will on the part of 
members of his own church. His act is therefore called 
“a faithful work,’’ both because it was an expression of his 
sincere belief, and also because it required steadfastness 
and courage in its accomplishment. This expression of 
Christian loyalty was one of those which had been reported 
to John, and, as he declares, the messengers who had been 
so befriended “‘bare witness to thy love before the church.” 
Now these same messengers are returning to Gaius, and 
John makes bold to request that Gaius not only shall enter- 
tain them but shall aid them on their further journey by 
gifts of money and provisions, and that, too, in the most 
liberal manner, or, as John says, with a generosity ‘‘worth- 
ily of God.” 

Two reasons are assigned for such gracious generosity. 
One is the fact that these messengers are representatives 
of Christ and are going forth to make Christ known. It is 

3 


168 THIRD JOHN III John 5-8 


true that the word, ‘‘Christ,” is not mentioned; it does not 
occur once in this letter. ‘‘They went forth,’ John de- 
clares, ‘‘for the sake of the Name’’; but there is no doubt 
what name is meant: it is ‘the name which is above every 
name,” in which some day every knee shall bow. 

The second reason for this kindness is the practice of 
these particular missionaries, who, to avoid all appearance 
of selfishness and all suspicion of unworthy motives in 
preaching, refused to accept hospitality or remuneration 
from the Gentiles to whom they were bringing the gospel. 

There is also a third reason mentioned by John, as apply- 
ing not to this particular case alone, or to these special 
missionaries, but to all Christians in every age: ‘‘We there- 
fore ought to welcome such, that we may be fellow-workers 
for the truth.” By extending sympathy and support to 
the ministers and messengers and missionaries of Christ, we 
are sharing in their work of making known the truth of 
Christ; and as we participate in their labor and their 
toil and their sacrifice, so, too, we shall share in their 
rejoicing and their reward. 


IIT John 9, 10 CONDEMNATION 169 


3. THE CONDEMNATION OF DIOTREPHES. Vs. 9, 10 


9 I wrote somewhat unto the church: but Diotrephes, 
who loveth to have the preéminence among them, receiveth 
us not. 10 Therefore, if I come, I will bring to remembrance 
his works which he doeth, prating against us with wicked 
words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself 
receive the brethren, and them that would he forbiddeth and 
casteth them out of the church. 


In striking contrast with Gaius stands Diotrephes; 
and as the former receives unstinted praise, the latter is 
given an unqualified rebuke. The very name Diotrephes, 
which has been translated ‘“‘nursling of Zeus’ (the king 
of the gods), may indicate some boasted aristocracy of 
birth or social connection, and may be related to the 
pride and vanity of this man who so loved ‘‘to have the 
preéminence.’’ He was insolent toward John, whose 
apostolic authority he should have respected, and over- 
bearing toward his fellow believers, for whose welfare he 
had no regard. John had written a brief letter to the local 
church of which Diotrephes was a member; but the letter 
had been suppressed by him, or at least its authority had 
been denied and its counsels had been neglected. This was 
in effect a rejection of the apostle, or, as John says, ‘‘Dio- 
trephes. . . receiveth us not.” He had gone even further, 
and had made an open attack upon theapostle, “‘prating”’ 
against him ‘‘with wicked words.”’ These words may have 
been light and reckless, mere ‘‘bubbles’’ as the term de- 
notes; but they were inspired by malice and they were 
accompanied by deeds no less distressing: ‘“‘Neither doth 
he himself receive the brethren, and them that would he 
forbiddeth and casteth them out of the church.” The 
“brethren” thus cruelly treated were the actual represen- 
tatives of the apostle, the messengers of Christ and his 
Church, and the influence of Diotrephes was so great as 
thus to threaten the progress of the gospel. No wonder 
that John writes to commend Gaius, who in such a crisis 


v6 


170 THIRD JOHN III John 9, 10 


has shown his loyalty to the truth by extending hospitality 
to the brethren; and no wonder that he here states in 
reference to Diotrephes, ‘‘If I come, I will bring to remem- 
brance his works,” by which he meant that they would be 
rebuked and punished. Thus John draws the picture of 
one of the first in the long line of men whose ambition 
and greed of power have imperiled the peace and progress 
of the Christian Church; the pen may be in the trembling 
hand of an aged apostle, but its strokes are true and the 
sketch is vivid. It is just possible that the apostle may 
have recalled an earlier experience of his own when with 
his brother James he had sought for a place of preéminence. 
Surely some modern readers need to be reminded that envy 
and pride and selfish ambition are far removed from the 
spirit of him who ‘“‘came not to be ministered unto, but to 
minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” 


III John 11, 12 COMMENDATION 171 


4. THE COMMENDATION OF DEMETRIUS. Ys. 11, 12 


11 Beloved, imitate not that which is evil, but that which is 
good. He that doeth good is of God: he that doeth evil 
hath not seen God. 12 Demetrius hath the witness of all 
men, and of the truth itself: yea, we also bear witness; and 
thou knowest that our witness is true. 


To counteract the influence of Diotrephes which~ is 
imperiling the belief and order of the Church, John is 
sending a messenger, by the name of Demetrius. He is 
the bearer of this letter, and is strongly commended to 
Gaius, to whom the letter is written and by whom he is 
to be entertained. This commendation is threefold: 
first, ‘‘Demetrius hath the witness of all men,” that is his 
work in the Church is widely known and is everywhere 
approved; secondly, he has the witness ‘‘of the truth it- 
self,’”’ that is, the manifestation in life and word of the 
effect of accepted truth, shows him to be worthy of trust 
and affection; thirdly, the aged and inspired apostle, John, 
adds his word of personal testimony to the character of 
this loyal and popular minister of the early Church: 
‘Yea, we also bear witness; and thou knowest that our 
witness is true.”’ 

This commendation is introduced by a precept of wide- 
reaching application, and by a statement of deep signifi- 
cance: ‘‘Beloved, imitate not that which is evil, but that 
which is good.’”’ Thus Gaius is warned against the 
example and influence of Diotrephes whose character has 
just been sketched, and is exhorted to emulate the zeal 
and fidelity of Demetrius who is now to be introduced. 
However, John first adds the characteristic words: ‘He 
that doeth good is of God: he that doeth evil hath not 
seen God.’ That is to say, one whose habit of life is 
right, one who practices what is good, shows that he has 
been “born of God’; but one whose life is evil has not 
caught that transforming vision of God, in the face of 
Jesus Christ, which is possible to the eye of faith. No 
matter what one may profess or what power he may 
possess in the Church, words and deeds are the infallible 
proofs of the real but hidden springs of life. 


172 THIRD JOHN III John 13, 14 


5. THE Conc.usion. Vs. 13, 14 


13 Ihad many things to write unto thee, but Iam unwilling 
to write them to thee with ink and pen: 14 but I hope shortly 
to see thee, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be 
unto thee. The friends salute thee. Salute the friends 
by name. 


As the aged apostle brings his letter to a close, just 
before writing his benediction of ‘‘peace,’’ and before send- 
ing the greetings of Christian friends in Ephesus to the 
Christian friends of Gaius, he states how irksome and un- 
satisfactory it is for him to communicate ‘‘with ink and 
pen,”’ and he expresses the hope of a coming visit when he 
can ‘‘speak face to face.”’ It is these natural and human 
touches which make the last epistles of John so fascinating 
and full of life. Here we are not moving in the sphere of 
the supernatural and mysterious; there is no suggestion of 
miracle and marvel; but here we find men and women 
like ourselves, tempted by human weakness and faults, 
furthering the work of Christ by the exercise of hospitality, 
living in the power of a vital faith, laboring in love and 
“walking in the truth.” 


EPISTLE-OF JUDE 13 


THE EPISTLE OF 
JUDE 


The writer calls himself “Jude’’ and adds that he is 
“brother of James.’ Both names were common among 
the early followers of Christ. Two of the apostles bore 
the name of “Jude,” or its exact equivalent ‘‘Judas,”’ and 
two others were called ‘James.’ Neither this writer, 
however, nor his brother were members of the apostolic 
band. This James was probably the well-known leader 
of the church in Jerusalem and a brother of our Lord. 
It therefore appears that the last of the General Epistles, 
like the first, was composed by a member of that family 
circle which is reverently associated with the memories 
of Nazareth, of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and of our 
blessed Lord himself. 

The occasion of the epistle seems to have been the recep- 
tion by the writer of news concerning the peril which was 
threatening the Church. He had been addressing himself 
to the task of writing a treatise on the subject of the 
‘salvation’? which he shared with his fellow Christians, 
when he unexpectedly found it necessary to write them this 
message in which he urges them “to contend earnestly 
for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the 
saints.” He has learned that entrance into the Church 
has been gained by certain godless men who, in the name 
of liberty, are living in lawless license, and under the cloak 
of a Christian profession are hiding their shameless im- 
purity. Both by word and by deed they are denying the 
Lord Jesus Christ. 

Jude declares that their doom will be as certain as that 
of the unbelieving Israelites, or of the fallen angels or of 
Sodom and Gomorrah. He describes them as insolently 
defiant of all authority, like Cain in murderous envy, 
like Balaam in their greed and seduction, like Korah in 
their pride and rebellion. They threaten their fellow 
Christians with shipwreck both of faith and morals. In 


174 EPISTLE OR ODE 


their false pretensions they are like shepherds which feed 
themselves and forget the flock, like clouds which bring 
no rain, like fruitless trees. Restless and noisy as the 
surf which breaks on the shore, they produce only that 
which is their shame. Like blazing meteors they appear 
brilliant for a time but are plunging into eternal night. 

In reference to them, Jude quotes a prophecy attributed 
to Enoch, which declares the coming of the Lord in judg- 
ment upon these men or upon the sinners of his own day. 
Like the latter, these apostates complain of their lot, live 
in sensual indulgence, boast of their knowledge and powers, 
and selfishly seek their own advancement. 

The readers are reminded that the apostles of Christ 
had also predicted that the end of this age would be 
marked by the appearance of just such false leaders who 
would follow their own lusts, destroy the unity of the 
Church, and walk after their fleshly desires, not according 
to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. 

In view of such perilous influences, Jude urges upon 
true believers steadfast effort in Christian growth, con- 
tinual prayer, confidence in the love of God, and abiding 
hope in the appearing of Christ who will bring their 
experience of grace to its final glory. As to those who are 
in danger of being corrupted by the false teachers, some 
are to be convinced by argument, some are to be saved 
from their peril by severe discipline, some are to be 
regarded with pity while their polluting contact is shunned. 
The epistle closes with a superb doxology which reminds 
the readers of the unfailing protection and the saving power 
of God, to whom, with Christ our Lord, is ascribed eternal 
praises. 

The outline of the epistle is as follows: 


. TheSalutation. Jude 1, 2. 

The Occasion of Writing. Vs. 3, 4. 

. The Sin and the Doom of the False Teachers. Vs. 5-16, 
. The Exhortation to the Faithful. Vs. 17-23. 

. The Doxology. Vs. 24, 25. 


CUB WN ee 


Jude 1, 2 THE SALUTATION 175 


1. THE SALUTATION. Jude 1, 2 


1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, 
to them that are called, beloved in God the Father, and 
kept for Jesus Christ: 2 Mercy unto you and peace and love 
be multiplied. 


The writer of this epistle was, almost certainly, a brother 
of our Lord Jesus; yet with unassumed modesty he calls 
himself “‘a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James.”’ 
As, however, this James was probably the well-known 
head of the church at Jerusalem and brother of the Lord, 
Jude does intimate his relation to Jesus and further sug- 
gests that his words are worthy of deep respect. He 
indicates, however, that his human kinship to Christ is 
less important to him than his spiritual relation, by the 
first phrase he employs, ‘‘a servant of Jesus Christ.’’ 
The word is literally a “bondservant”’ or “‘slave.’’ Pos- 
sibly there is something of humility in the term, but there 
is surely much of dignity. The same title was claimed by 
the great Apostle Paul. It may be assumed properly by 
every follower of Christ. Each one belongs to him, as pur- 
chased by his precious blood, each owes to him submission, 
each finds his chief joy in his service. 

The persons addressed are unnamed and unknown; but 
the terms in which they are described are so beautiful that 
all readers may rejoice in believing that such phrases be- 
long to them if only they belong to Christ. They are 
“called,” for they have heard and heeded the gracious 
summons to salvation given by the Holy Spirit; they are 
“‘beloved,”’ but the love is more than human sentiment 
and is due to their special relation to ‘‘God the Father’; 
they are being ‘‘kept,’’ not merely through present trials 
and temptations, but “for Jesus Christ’’ whose glorious 
return they are awaiting. For such favored persons, 
whose blessings are related to Father, Son, and Holy 
Spirit, the unique prayer is offered: ‘‘Mercy unto you and 
peace and love be multiplied.” “Mercy” is that favor 


176 EPISTLE OF JUDE Jude 1, 2 


toward the undeserving shown by the Father. ‘‘Peace’’ 
denotes a perfect relation toward God and our fellow men. 
‘“‘Love’’ is the deepest and most blessed experience of the 
human soul. It is encouraging to believe that such 
graces are certain to be increased for all who are loyal to 
the living Christ. 


Jude 3, 4 OCCASION OF WRITING 177 


2. THE OCCASION OF THE WRITING. Vs. 3, 4 


3 Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write unto 
you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write 
unto you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith 
which was once for all delivered unto the saints. 4 For 
there are certain men crept in privily, even they who were of 
old written of beforehand unto this condemnation, ungodly 
men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and 
denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. 


While Jude was planning to write his fellow believers a 
letter on subjects related to the salvation which they all 
shared, he was confronted with the necessity of abandon- 
ing this plan, and of preparing this epistle in which he 
could urge his readers to a faithful defense of the great 
truths which had been received from Christ and his apos- 
tles, which he had been hoping to expound, which were 
now in grave peril. The nature of this peril was the 
presence and influence, within the Church, of certain men 
who, by their teaching as well as by their lives, were deny- 
ing the Lord whom they professed to obey. Their coming 
had been predicted long ago, but their entrance into the 
Church had been unobserved, or their real nature had not 
been known, and their power had not been appreciated. 
Now, however, Jude is fully aroused to the menace which 
they constitute to the Christian faith, and he sounds a 
call to arms, he declares that the enemy is really entrenched 
within the camp, he insists that believers must ‘‘contend 
earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered 
unto the saints.’ 

By these words he indicates that the body of revealed 
truth is complete and final. There is no other gospel, 
there will be none. Its content will be more fully 
understood, its implications will be developed, its predic- 
tions will be fulfilled; but it will never be supplemented 
or succeeded or supplanted. 

Jude further indicates that this truth must be defended. 
Even in the days of the apostles, even in the early Church 


178 EPISTLE OF JUDE Fades 


where truth was held so dear, there were those who denied 
the realities concerning the unique person and the saving 
work of Christ, whose insidious teachings corrupted the 
pure gospel, whose impious lives were concealed by a loud 
profession of ‘‘advanced”’ knowledge. So it has ever been 
in all ages. The most dangerous attacks upon the truth 
have come from within the Church itself, and there never 
have been wanting those who have declared the gospel to 
be erroneous, defective, or at least immature, who under 
forms most specious and plausible have attacked ‘“‘the 
faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints.”’ 

Jude also indicates that the best defense of the truth 
is found in the influence of a holy life. Of course the 
Christian beliefs must be carefully studied and clearly 
stated, misrepresentations must be denied, and _ false 
charges must be answered, but the way ‘“‘to contend 
earnestly for the faith” is not that of physical force or 
bitter denunciation or-social ostracism, but that of con- 
sistent living. Truth is certain to manifest itself in life. 
The false teachers showed their errors by the impurity of 
their deeds. Those who would defend the faith must 
show themselves ‘“‘saints,’’ by which is meant real ‘‘be- 
lievers”’ or those who are ‘‘consecrated to Christ.” 


Jude 5-16 DOOM OF FALSE TEACHERS 179 


3. THE SIN AND THE DOOM OF THE FALSE TEACHERS. 
Vg25-16 


5 Now I desire to put you in remembrance, though ye 
know all things once for all, that the Lord, having saved a 
people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them 
that believed not. 6 And angels that kept not their own prin- 
cipality, but left their proper habitation, he hath kept in ever- 
lasting bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great 
day. 7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about 
them, having in like manner with these given themselves 
over to fornication and gone after strange flesh, are set forth 
as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire. 8 
Yet in like manner these also in their dreamings defile the 
flesh, and set at nought dominion, and rail at dignities. 9 
But Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil 
he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against 
him a railing judgment, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. 10 
But these rail at whatsoever things they know not: and what 
they understand naturally, like the creatures without reason, 
in these things are they destroyed. 11 Woe unto them! 
for they went in the way of Cain, and ran riotously in the error 
of Balaam for hire, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah. 
12 These are they who are hidden rocks in your love-feasts 
when they feast with you, shepherds that without fear feed 
themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; 
autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the 
roots; 13 wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own 
shame; wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness 
hath been reserved forever. 14 And to these also Enoch, the 
seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, Behold, the Lord 
came with ten thousands of his holy ones, 15 to execute 
judgment upon all and to convict all the ungodly of all their 
works of ungodliness which they have ungodly wrought, 
and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken 
against him. 16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking 
after their lusts (and their mouth speaketh great swelling 
words), showing respect of persons for the sake of advantage. 


The main portion of this epistle is thus concerned with 
the character and the punishment of these men whose 
presence and influence are such a serious menace to the 


180 EPISTLE OF JUDE Jude 5-16 


truth. A comparison of this section with II Peter, ch. 2, 
shows that the two passages are practically identical. 
Many modern students have concluded that when Peter 
was writing he had this Epistle of Jude before him; other 
scholars equally eminent believe that Jude, in composing 
his letter, had in hand the work of Peter. _ Probably it is 
unwise to be too positive in asserting the priority of either 
epistle. It does seem, however, that the enemies whose 
advent Peter predicts are pictured by Judeas already doing 
their ruinous work, and that the evils, which were not 
full-grown when Peter wrote, have now reached a fatal 
maturity. It is evident that in spite of their similarity 
the passages in both epistles contain features which are 
original and distinct. Thus the first example of divine 
punishment cited by Jude is not found in the Second 
Epistle of Peter. It is the case of Israel, the chosen 
people, who in spite of their peculiar privileges and their 
miraculous deliverance from Egyptian bondage, lost faith 
in God, and all “that believed not’’ were ‘‘destroyed.”’ 
This example illustrates not only the certainty of doom but 
the nature of the men whom Jude is describing. It 
traces the source of their sin to unbelief. It teaches us, 
not merely that high privilege does not insure one against 
failure and consequent penalty, but also the lesson drawn 
in the Epistle to the Hebrews from the same historic 
facts: ‘Take heed, brethren, lest haply there shall be in 
any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away 
from the living God.” 

The second example of divine retribution Jude takes, 
not directly from the Old Testament, but from traditions 
which were current in the writings of his day. The “fall 
of the angels” is an event shrouded in mystery, but the 
reference here is evidently intended to illustrate the 
fatal pride and rebellion which filled the hearts of the 
apostates whom Jude is denouncing, and again to warn his 
readers that the most exalted position is no safeguard 
against sin and doom. 

The third example reverts to the history of Genesis, to 
the infamous immorality and the subsequent destruction 
of Sodom and the surrounding cities, a reference intended 


Jude 5-16 DOOM OF FALSE TEACHERS 181 


not only to charge with impurity the false teachers to whom 
Jude refers, but also to warn them of their peril of suffering 
a like penalty. 

These libertines, however, refuse to be warned; and, 
vainly dreaming that they can safely pursue their unholy 
course, they treat with insolence the Church authorities 
who would restrain and admonish them. Jude declares 
that such conduct is condemned by the example of the 
archangel, Michael, who refrained from railing against 
even the Devil when disputing with him about the body 
of Moses. Here again the reference is to a tradition about 
which it is useless to speculate. The practical purpose of 
Jude is obvious. He rebukes the impious folly of those 
men who insulted authorities they should have respected, 
and spoke irreverently of truths which they did not 
understand, while, in the realm of sensual indulgence, 
where they were at home, they brought about their own 
destruction by yielding to animal passions. 

To the charge of senseless insolence, Jude adds that of 
murderous envy and hatred: ‘‘they went in the way of 
Cain’; and further, of corrupting greed, ‘‘the error of 
Balaam; and, again, of proud rebellion,” ‘“‘the gainsaying 
of Korah.”’ 

Such then are seven, at least, of the evil characteristics 
of these guilty apostates whose destruction Jude solemnly 
predicts; they are unbelieving, proud, sensual, insolent, 
envious, greedy, rebellious. Their picture is made more 
abhorrent, however, by the figures of speech which 
follow, which portray their corrupting influence, their 
hypocrisy, their disgrace, and their doom. Partaking of 
the Christian love feasts, these false teachers are like 
hidden rocks which cause the shipwreck of souls. In their 
great professions and their failure to give aid, they are 
like shepherds who care solely for their own needs, or like 
clouds which bring no rain, or like trees which are fruitless 
and blasted, or like waves breaking on the shore and leav- 
ing a worthless deposit, or like meteors which for a brief 
time blaze across the sky and disappear in eternal darkness. 

The punishment of these apostates has been intimated 
again and again; but it is finally stated by Jude in words 


182 EPISTLE OF JUDE Jude 5-16 


which tradition had assigned to Enoch, “‘the seventh from 
Adam,” the ancient saint who “walked with God”’ and was 
translated without dying. It is stated that he prophesied 
“to these,’’ that is, to men of this same character, who lived 
in his own day, as well as to these false teachers in the 
early Church. It is further implied that exactly such men 
will exist in the latter days just before our Lord returns, 
dissatisfied men, slaves of passion, proud boasters, and 
cringing flatterers. However, the Lord will come ‘with 
ten thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment upon 
all.” In the expression, ‘‘Behold, the Lord came,’ we 
have the past tense of prophetic vision. So certain is 
the event that the prophet describes it as already fulfilled. 
The delay may seem long, sinful apostates may feel secure, 
but the hour will strike, and the Judge surely will appear. 


Jude 17-23 EXHORTATION TO FAITHFUL 183 


4, THE EXHORTATION TO THE FAITHFUL. Vs. 17-23 


17 But ye, beloved, remember ye the words which have 
been spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; 
18 that they said to you, In the last time there shall be mock- 
ers, walking after their own ungodly lusts. 19 These are 
they who make separations, sensual, having not the Spirit. 
20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most 
holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in 
the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus 
Christ unto eternal life. 22 And on some have mercy, who 
are in doubt; 23 and some save, snatching them out of the 
fire; and on some have mercy with fear; hating even the 
garment spotted by the flesh. 


Here, at last, the epistle reaches its climax; not in the 
description of the false teachers and their doom, but in 
this exhortation, addressed to the faithful followers of 
Christ, the real purpose of Jude is fulfilled. 

The exhortation is threefold. First, Jude reminds his 
readers that the presence in the Church of such ungodly 
men was to be expected; it should not surprise or dismay 
or discourage; the apostles of Christ had predicted it. 
The Church never would be free from such peril before the 
Lord returned. One sign of his near approach would be 
the increasing power and insolence of such teachers, who 
would mock at the idea of a coming judgment, who would 
walk according to their godless lusts, who would ‘make 
separations’ in the Church, men of sensual instincts, 
utterly devoid of spiritual life. 

In striking contrast With such apostates, Jude next 
encourages his readers to build themselves up upon the 
foundation of their ‘‘most holy faith,’’ by which he means 
upon those truths which ‘‘once for all’’ were ‘delivered 
unto the saints,’’ which alone form the true basis for an 
enlarging Christian life and experience. Further, they 
were to pray in the power and under the guidance of the 
Holy Spirit from whom alone could come the strength 
for growth and the power for life. They were to “‘keep”’ 


184 EPISTLE OF JUDE Jude 17-23 


themselves ‘‘in the love of God’’; this is the most emphatic 
verb in this part of the exhortation; it is the one impera- 
tive, for to abide in the consciousness of the love of God is 
the surest safeguard against sin; such abiding may be 
secured by faith and prayer and obedience. They 
were to keep their eyes fixed upon the mercy which would 
be brought to them at the return of Christ, when “‘eternal 
life’’ would be realized by them in all its fullness and 
glory. 

Last of all, Jude exhorts believers as to their attitude 
toward those who are in danger of being led astray from 
consistent Christian life and belief. He declares that 
careful discrimination must be exercised, and that every 
effort should be made to protect and to save. Some are 
“in doubt’; they merit your compassion, your warning, 
your patient care. Some are in imminent peril, they need 
severe discipline; only thus can they be snatched from the 
fire of their fierce temptations. Even those whose unbe- 
lief and perversity seem most hopeless, are to be regarded 
with pity by those who shrink from all contact with their 
pollution and sin. 

Thus Jude exhorts Christians how to meet impiety and 
apostasy; not with surprise, for these have been pre- 
dicted; not with inactivity, for spiritual zeal and effort 
form the best protection against temptation; not with 
indifference, for many souls will be in peril and some may 
be rescued from death. 


Jude 24, 25 THE DOXOLOGY 185 


5. THe DoxoLocy. Vs. 24, 25 


24 Now unto him that is able to guard you from stumbling, 
and to set you before the presence of his glory without blemish 
in exceeding joy, 25 to the only God our Saviour, through 
i Cnrist our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and power, 

efore all time, and now, and for evermore. Amen. 


No more inspiring ascription of praise can be found in 
the General Epistles, nor one with which these epistles 
more fittingly may conclude. The thought has been led 
through dark scenes of perplexity and suffering, of apos- 
tasy and doom; but now the clouds break away, and the 
eyes gaze in rapture on the face of a loving God, on the 
glory of a coming Christ. The readers had been told to 
“keep” themselves in the love of God; now they are 
assured that God will keep them; in spite of pitfalls and 
snares, he “‘is able to guard you from stumbling’’; regard- 
less of moral perils and present sorrows, he will “‘set you 
before the presence of his glory,” at the appearing of 
Christ, ‘“‘without blemish” and in exultant “‘joy.”’ To this 
one God our Saviour, as there ever has been, so may there 
be now and forevermore, ‘glory, majesty, dominion and 
power,” “through Jesus Christ our Lord.’’ ‘‘Amen.”’ 


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Date Due 





BS2777 .£66 1925 
The general epistles : an exposition... 


Princeton Theological 


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